History of Naples, Fla

7, 1927 and the Tamiami Trail linking Naples to Miami was completed in 1928; but did not begin until after the Great Depression and World War II. During the war the Army Air Force built a small air field and used it for training purposes; it is now the Naples Municipal Airport.

Fill was required to repair damage from a 1945 hurricane. A local dredging company, Forrest Walker & Sons, created a lake north of 16th Ave S, between Gordon Drive and Gulf Shore Blvd. In 1949 Forrest Walker asked Mr. Rust to sell him the 296 acres from Jamaica Channel to today's 14th Ave. S. The Jamaica Channel was widened, one canal was dredged, and 14th Ave S was created by March 1950 and a new subdivision was named "Aqualane Shores" at the opening party that same year. Additional channels were eventually added to the south of 14th Ave S and are named alphabetically for local water birds. The first channel south of 14th Ave S is Anhinga Channel, then Bittern Channel is south of 15th Ave S, Crane Channel is south of 16th Ave S, Duck Channel is south of 17th Ave S, and Egret Channel is north of 21st Ave S. From the channels there are Coves named: Flamingo, Gull, Heron, Ibis, as well as the original Aqua Cove. These Initial channels, canals, and coves were dredged and bulldozed from the mangrove swamps. Where shallow rock precluded digging, land was filled to create lots with navigable water.

Aqualane Shores Association was incorporated as a non-profit corporation on February 3, 1966. It served lot owners in the area roughly bounded by the Bay of Naples to the east, and Gordon Dr to the west, and the land between 14th Ave S and 21st Ave S, as well as Marina Drive, Forrest Lane and Southwinds Drive. Thirty years later, in 1996, a state mandated city master plan renamed the area to The Aqualane Shores Neighborhood and extended its boundary west to the Gulf of Mexico, east to