Fort Myers

Fort Myers is a city in and the county seat and commercial center of Lee County, Florida, United States. As of July 1, 2021, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated the population of Fort Myers to be 92,245, growing from 86,354 in the 2020 census. The city takes its name from a local former fort that was built during the Seminole Wars. The winter estates of Thomas Edison ("Seminole Lodge") and Henry Ford ("The Mangoes") are major attractions. Fort Myers was devastated by Hurricane Ian in October of 2022. Lee County alone suffered an estimated $5.342 billion USD (2022) in total damages, with over 50,000 residential and commercial structures severely damaged or completely destroyed. The Fort was named for Brevet Colonel Abraham Charles Myers, quartermaster for the Army's Department of Florida and future son-in-law of Major David E. Twiggs. During the American Civil War, Confederate blockade runners and cattle ranchers were based in Fort Myers. It was intended as a place from which to recruit Union sympathizers and Confederate deserters and conscription-evaders and to raid into the interior and interfere with Confederate efforts to round up cattle for supply to the Confederate Army. The fort was abandoned in 1858, at the end of the Third Seminole War. It is a gateway to the Southwest Florida region and a major tourist destination within Florida. It has a population of 787,976 as of 2021.

History

Fort Myers is the primary city name, but also Buckingham, Tice are acceptable city names or spellings, Ft Myers on the other hand no longer accepted or obsolete and are no longer used as a designation. During the Second Seminole War, between 1835 and 1842, the U.S. Army operated Fort Dulaney at Punta Rassa, at the mouth of the Caloosahatchee River. Fort Harvie was abandoned in 1842. Fort Myers was named for Brevet Colonel Abraham Charles Myers, quartermaster for the Army's Department of Florida and future son-in-law of Major Twiggs. It covered about 139 acres (56 ha), and soon had 57 buildings, including a two-story blockhouse that was pictured in Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, and a 1,000-foot-long (300 m) wharf at which ships could dock. During the American Civil War, Confederate blockade runners and cattle ranchers were based in Fort Myers. The presence of the black soldiers, who made up the majority of troops used in raids into Confederate territory, played on Confederate fears of armed blacks. Escaped slaves that came to the fort were recruited into the 2nd United States Colored Infantry Regiment, but were never mounted. The Confederate Army became dependent on Florida for its supply of beef after the fall of Vicksburg in July 1863. In 1864, Union soldiers reached Fort Myers quickly enough to capture three Confederate sympathizers before they could act on orders to burn the fort to keep it out of Union hands. By the spring of 1864 the fort was protected by a 500ft-long breastwork, 7 feet (2.6 m) high and 150 feet (4 m) wide.

Geography and climate

Fort Myers has a tropical savanna climate (Aw). The temperature rarely rises to 100 °F (38 °C) or lowers to the freezing mark. Rainfall averages just over 57 inches per year, strongly concentrated during the rainy season (June to September) The city has 89 days annually in which a thunderstorm is close enough for thunder to be heard, the most in the nation. In years with drier than average conditions from winter into mid-spring, drought can develop, and brush fires can be a significant threat. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 40.4 square miles (105 km²), of which 31.8 sq miles (82 km²) is land and 8.6sq miles (22km²) (21.25%) is water. The average monthly rainfall is less than four inches from October to May. The monthly daily average temperature ranges from 64.7°F (18.2°C) in January to 83.4 °C (28.6°F) in August, with the annual mean being 75.4 °f (24.1 °C).Records range from 24 °F up to 103 °F on June 1617, 1981. The city is located on the Gulf of Mexico and the Florida Turnpike, which connects to the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. It is located in the Florida panhandle and has a population of 1.2 million.

Demographics

The population of Fort Myers was 62,298 at the 2010 census. Between the 2000 census and 2010 census, the city's population increased at a rate of 29.2 percent. The population of Lee County, Florida and the Cape Coral-Fort Myers Metropolitan Statistical Area has grown 40.3 percent since the census in 2000, much faster than the average growth rate of 17.6 percent experienced throughout the State of Florida. The 2010 population for the metropolitan area was 618,754. The city is one of two cities that make up the Cape Cape-Ft. Myers-Lee County Metropolitan Statistical area. The other city is Fort Myers, Florida, which has a population of 60,000. The area has a total population of 617,000, with Fort Myers making up the largest city in the state, followed by Lee County with 50,000 and Cape Coral with 40,000 respectively. The metro area is home to more than 1.2 million people, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. It is the second-largest city in Florida, after Tampa, and the third-largest in the United States, after Miami. The metropolitan area is located in the southern part of the state and includes the cities of Fort Lauderdale, Tampa, Fort Myers and Fort Myers Beach, as well as the towns of Fort Lee and Myers Beach. The total population in the metro area has grown by more than 40 percent since 2000, the Census Bureau says. The growth rate is faster than that of the rest of Florida, where the growth rate has been between 17 and 18 percent.

Government

Fort Myers has a councilmanager government in which the city council consists of a mayor and six council members. The city council is responsible for establishing policy, passing local ordinances, voting appropriations, and developing an overall vision for the city. The mayor of Fort Myers is Kevin B. Anderson. The council members are elected by registered voters in their ward and represent that particular ward for a four-year term. The Fort Myers Police Department is the police force of the city ofFort Myers. The police department is made up of officers from the Fort Myers Fire Department and the Myers-Melbourne Fire Department. The fire department is based in the city's downtown area. The department was formed in the 1950s and has been in operation since. It is the largest fire department in the state, with more than 2,000 officers. It has been the fire department's largest employer for more than 30 years. It was the first fire department to be established in Fort Myers in the 1960s. The current fire department was founded in the 1970s and is the oldest in the Florida state. It serves as the police department of the City of Myers. It employs more than 1,200 officers, including more than 100 on patrol. The Fire Department has a budget of more than $1.5 million. It also has a fleet of over 1,000 vehicles. It provides emergency services for Fort Myers and surrounding areas. The Police Department has an annual budget of over $1 million. The City Council has a total budget of about $2 million.

Education

The Fort Myers Regional Library is the hub for the Lee County Library System. Dunbar-Jupiter Hammon Public Library opened on October 7, 1974. The library is home to the largest African-American book collection in southwest Florida. Fort Myers Senior High School is an International Baccalaureate school. Bishop Verot High School, a private, Roman Catholic high school in Fort Myers, Florida, is operated by the Diocese of Venice, Florida. The Fort Myers Technical College is a state-run technical college for high school and college students. The Lee County School District operates public and private schools in the city. The city has a large number of private schools, many of which are non-sectarian. The school district also operates a private high school, Fort Myers High, which was founded in the 1970s. It is the only public high school to be part of the Florida Panhandle School District, which also runs two private high schools, Fort Lee High and Myers Beach High. The high school is located in the heart of downtown Fort Myers and is one of the largest in the state. It was named after the first African poet to have his work published, Dunbar, the community's name, was added at the request of its residents. It opened in 1974 and is located on Blount Street. It has been named after Jupiter Hammon, who was the first black poet to be published in the U.S., in honor of his work in the early 20th century.

Sports

The City of Palms Classic is an annual high school basketball tournament held in Fort Myers since 1973. By 2015, 120 players that had participated in the tournament had been named McDonald's All-Americans and 94 had been drafted into the NBA. The Florida Eels is a Tier III junior hockey program in the USPHL with two teams. The Fort Myers Skatium is their home rink. The Florida Eels have performed well in their regular season and playoffs, advancing to Nationals on multiple occasions. The Florida Eels have two teams; one in the Premier Division and one in the Elite Division. The Fort Myers Skatium is the home rink for the Florida  Eels. The Eels are currently in their second season of the US PHL. The team has won the US PHL's Premier Division twice and reached the Elite Division finals on multiple occasions in the last two seasons. They have also made it to the National Divisions of the USPHL on several occurring occurrences in the past and have been selected to play at the Nationals on multiple occurrence of their appearances and have been drafted into the NBA. The Florida Eel tournament has been held since 1973 and has been won by 120 players.

Points of interest

The Calusa Nature Center and Planetarium is a private, not-for-profit, environmental education organization. Set on a 105-acre (0.42 km²) site, it has a museum, three nature trails, a planetarium, butterfly and bird aviaries, a gift shop and meeting and picnic areas. City of Palms Park, former home of the Boston Red Sox spring training program, close to downtown Fort Myers, Florida. Southwest Florida Museum of History and Science is located in Fort Myers and is open to the public on weekdays. The Fort Myers Zoo is located on the same site as the Calusa nature center and planetarium. The Calusa Zoo is also open to visitors on the weekends and during the summer months, when the weather is warmer. The zoo is open from 9am to 5pm daily and has a daily admission fee of $2.50. It also has a weekly admission of $1.50 for children under the age of 12. It is located near the historic downtown area of Fort Myers in the city's waterfront entertainment district, which is home to the Murphy-Burroughs House and the Southwest Florida museum of history and science. In the summer, the zoo also offers a free guided tour of its planetarium and aviaries. The museum is open on the weekend and on the weekdays from 9 am to 6pm. It has a free admission fee for children aged 12 and under, and a free museum admission for adults.

Public transportation

The Fort Myers metropolitan area is served by two nearby airports. Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW) is the 45th busiest airport in the United States (by annual passengers) Page Field is a small general aviation airport whose primary traffic consist of smaller aircraft. Busses run by LeeTran provide local service in Fort Myers. In 2018 the airport served 9,373,178 passengers. The airport sits on 13,555 acres of land, and is located southeast of the city. It is located on the Florida Turnpike, which runs through the city of Fort Myers and into the Tampa Bay area. The Fort Myers airport is located near the city's international airport, which is located just south of downtown Fort Myers, and sits on the Turnpikes' turnpike's main highway, which goes through the Tampa area and into Tampa Bay. There are no direct flights from the airport to Tampa Bay, but there is a direct flight from Fort Myers to Tampa International Airport, which sits on a different stretch of the TurnPike. There is no direct flight between the airport and Tampa Bay Airport, but the airport does have a direct connection to the Tampa-Fort Myers International Airport in Tampa, Florida, which serves as a hub for Tampa Bay and the Port Everglades airport. The city is also served by a number of other airports, including Orlando International Airport and Tampa-Hollywood International Airport. In 2010, the airport was the 15th busiest in the U.S. by annual passengers.

Fort Myers in popular culture

The abandoned city scene with the Edison Theatre, from the movie Day of the Dead (1985) was filmed in downtown Fort Myers. The courthouse and other "city" scenes in Just Cause (1995) were filmed in Ft. Myers. Fort Myers is part of the setting of Red Grass River: A Legend (1998), a novel by James Carlos Blake. The independent film Trans (1999) was also filmed in Fort Myers, as was the set of the movie The Godfather: Part II (1998) and the TV series The Godparents (1998-2009) The city is also the setting for the TV show The Walking Dead (2011-2013) and its spin-off series, The WalkingDead 2 (2013-2014). The town has been the subject of numerous books, including "The Godfather" and "The Lord of the Flies" (both published by Simon & Schuster). The city has also appeared in the film and TV series "The Walking Dead" (2011) and " The Lord of The Flies 2" (2014-2015) The town is also featured in the book "The Game of Thrones" (2012-2014), a film adaptation of the book by Neil Gaiman. The town also appears in "The Hunger Games" (2015-2014) and other films by Stephen King, such as "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I" and "The Dark Knight" (2013). The mayor of Fort Myers has appeared in several films, including the film "The Hobbit" and the television series "Breaking Bad".

Air Quality, Water Quality, Superfund Sites & UV Index

The Air Quality index is in Fort Myers, Lee County, Florida = 92.6. These Air Quality index is based on annual reports from the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The number of ozone alert days is used as an indicator of air quality, as are the amounts of seven pollutants including particulates, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, lead, and volatile organic chemicals. The Water Quality Index is 60. A measure of the quality of an area’s water supply as rated by the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The EPA has a complex method of measuring the watershed quality, using 15 indicators such as pollutants, turbidity, sediments, and toxic discharges. The Superfund Sites Index is 99. Higher is better (100=best). Based upon the number and impact of EPA Superfund pollution sites in the county, including spending on the cleanup efforts. The UV Index in Fort Myers = 6.5 and is a measure of an area's exposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays. This is most often a combination of sunny weather, altitude, and latitude. The UV Index has been defined by the WHO (www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/radiation-the-ultraviolet-(uv)-index) and is uniform worldwide.

Employed

The most recent city population of 86,395 individuals with a median age of 32.4 age the population grows by 26.89% in Fort Myers, Lee County, Florida population since 2000 and are distributed over a density of 2,168.44 residents per square mile of area (837.24/km²). There are average 2.34 people per household in the 25,043 households with an average household income of $34,386 a year. The unemployment rate in Alabama is 11.50% of the available work force and has dropped -8.64% over the most recent 12-month period and the projected change in job supply over the next decade based on migration patterns, economic growth, and other factors will increase by 11.22%. The number of physicians in Fort Myers per 100,000 population = 196.8.

Weather

The annual rainfall in Fort Myers = 54.3 inches and the annual snowfall = 0 inches. The annual number of days with measurable precipitation (over .01 inch) = 112. The average number of days per year that are predominantly sunny = 271. 91 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily high temperature for the month of July and 53.5 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily low temperature for the month of January. The Comfort Index (higher=better) is 28, where higher values mean a more pleasant climate. The Comfort Index measure recognizes that humidity by itself isn't the problem. (Have you noticed nobody ever complains about the weather being 'cold and humid?) It's in the summertime that we notice the humidity the most, when it's hot and muggy. Our Comfort Index uses a combination of afternoon summer temperature and humidity to closely predict the effect that the humidity will have on people.

Median Home Cost

The percentage of housing units in Fort Myers, Lee County, Florida which are owned by the occupant = 32.05%. A housing unit is a house, apartment, mobile home, or room occupied as separate living quarters. The average age of homes = 25 years with median home cost = $76,430 and home appreciation of -13.30%. This is the value of the years most recent home sales data. Its important to note that this is not the average (or arithmetic mean). The median home price is the middle value when you arrange all the sales prices of homes from lowest to highest. This is a better indicator than the average, because the median is not changed as much by a few unusually high or low values. The property tax rate of $12.05 shown here is the rate per $1,000 of home value. If for simplification for example the tax rate is $14.00 and the home value is $250,000, the property tax would be $14.00 x ($250,000/1000), or $3500. This is the 'effective' tax rate.

Study

The local school district spends $4,162 per student. There are 17.6 students for each teacher in the school, 814 students for each Librarian and 598 students for each Counselor. 5.30% of the area’s population over the age of 25 with an Associate Degree or other 2-year college degree, 11.95% with a master’s degree, Ph.D. or other advanced college degree and 6.43% with high school diplomas or high school equivalency degrees (GEDs).