Fort Myers

Fort Myers
Nickname : City of Palms
Fort Myers skyline
County and state location
Basic data
Foundation :	March 24, 1886
State :	United States
State :	Florida
County :	Lee County
Coordinates :	26 ° 38 ′  N , 81 ° 51 ′  W Coordinates: 26 ° 38 ′  N , 81 ° 51 ′  W
Time zone :	Eastern ( UTC − 5 / −4 )
Residents :	62,298 (as of 2010)
Population density :	756 inhabitants per km 2
Area :	104.7 km 2  (approx. 40 mi 2 ) of which 82.4 km 2  (approx. 32 mi 2 ) are land
Height :	3 m
Postcodes :	33900-33999
Area code :	+1 239
FIPS :	12-24125
GNIS ID :	0282700
Website :	www.cityftmyers.com/home.aspx
Mayor :	Randall P. Henderson, Jr.

Fort Myers is a city and also the county seat of Lee County in the US state of Florida with 62,298 inhabitants (as of 2010).

geography

Satellite image

Fort Myers is located on the banks of the Caloosahatchee River a few kilometers inland from its confluence with the Gulf of Mexico . On the other side of the river, Cape Coral borders the city. Tampa is 200 km away and Miami is 220 km away. Fort Myers is one of the regional centers of the Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area .

climate

Climate in Fort Myers
Monthly averages	Jan	Feb	March	April	May	June	July	Aug	Sept	Oct	Nov	Dec	year
Standard maximum values ​​° F (° C)	75 (24)	77 (25)	80 (27)	85 (29)	89 (32)	91 (33)	92 (33)	92 (33)	90 (32)	86 (30)	81 (27)	77 (25)	84 (29)
Standard lows ° F (° C)	54 (12)	55 (13)	59 (15)	63 (17)	68 (20)	73 (23)	74 (23)	74 (23)	74 (23)	69 (21)	62 (17)	56 (13)	65 (18)
Rainfall in cm (inches)	5.7 (2.2)	5.3 (2.1)	7.0 (2.7)	4.2 (1.7)	8.7 (3.4)	24.8 (9.8)	22.8 (9.0)	24.2 (9.5)	20.0 (7.9)	6.6 (2.6)	4.3 (1.7)	4.0 (1.6)	137.6 (54.3)
Rainydays	7th	8th	7th	6th	10	18th	22nd	22nd	20th	11	7th	7th	145

Fort Myers is located in the transition area between the tropical and subtropical climate zone.

history

Fort Myers was founded in 1850 as a fort in the fight against the Indian tribe of the Seminoles and named after Colonel Abraham C. Myers, the son-in-law of the fort's founder and commander. During the American Civil War , the so-called Battle of Fort Myers took place on February 20, 1865 (in fact, it was a battle with only one dead on the Confederate side). The first settlers settled in 1866 at the fort, which had already been abandoned at the time.

Fort Myers has been an independent city since March 24, 1886. After the Royal Palm Resort was built as the first winter resort in 1898 , Ft. Myers became a popular winter residence for wealthy citizens from the northern states of the USA. The best known among them were Henry Ford and Thomas Alva Edison , whose former winter residence, the Ford Edison Winter Estate on McGregor Boulevard, can be visited today.

In 1904 the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad built a railway line from Punta Gorda to Fort Myers. Today the route from Arcadia via Punta Gorda and Fort Myers to Naples is operated by the Seminole Gulf Railway . The construction of the first bridge over the Caloosahatchee in 1924 triggered an urban development spurt ( Florida land boom ), the Ft. Myers became the largest city between Tampa and Miami and which was followed by the development of surrounding communities such as Fort Myers Beach , North Fort Myers and Cape Coral .

In 1983, the Southwest Florida International Airport was opened not far from the city .

Religions

Fort Myers currently has 112 different churches from 27 different denominations, of which the Baptist congregation is most strongly represented with 28 churches. There are 11 churches belonging to no denomination and 2 ecumenically used churches (status: 2004).

Accident during Easter mass 2014 in the 2nd Haitian Baptist Church

On April 20, 2014, 22 believers in Second Haitian Baptist Church were seriously injured by a car during Easter Mass . The driver raced through the brick wall in the automatic car and drove into the fully occupied pews of the Baptist church .

Demographic data

According to the 2010 census, the then 62,298 inhabitants were distributed over 35,138 households. The population density was 756 inhabitants / km². 54.6% of the population identified themselves as whites , 32.3% as African American , 0.6% as Indians and 1.6% as Asian Americans . 8.1% said they belonged to another ethnic group and 2.8% to several ethnic groups. 20.0% of the population were Hispanics or Latinos .

In 2010 children under the age of 18 lived in 29.7% of all households and persons aged 65 or over lived in 25.8% of all households. 57.3% of households were family households (consisting of married couples with or without offspring or a parent with offspring). The average household size was 2.37 people and the average family size was 3.01 people.

25.5% of the population were younger than 20 years, 30.0% were 20 to 39 years old, 24.6% were 40 to 59 years old, and 20.0% were at least 60 years old. The mean age was 36 years. 50.1% of the population were male and 49.9% were female.

The median annual income was $ 37,347, with 25.2% of the population living below the poverty line.

In 2000, 79.79% of the population spoke English as their first language, 13.00% spoke Spanish and 7.21% spoke another language.

Attractions

The following properties are listed on the National Register of Historic Places :

Alderman House Casa Rio Dean Park Historic Residential District Paul Lawrence Dunbar School Edison Park Elementary School Thomas Edison Estate Henry Ford Estate Fort Myers Downtown Commercial District

Gilmer Heitman House Jewett-Thompson House Lee County Courthouse Lot-Hansen Marine Ways Murphy-Burroughs House Terry Park Ballfield William H. Towles House

Clinics

• Southwest Florida Regional Medical Center
• Gulf Coast Hospital
• Lee Memorial Health System
• Health Park Medical Center
• Health Park Care Center
• Lee Memorial Hospital

Educational institutions

• Florida Gulf Coast University

Sports

The Hammond Stadium

Logo of the Red Sox on a fence

Fort Myers is currently the training site of the Boston Red Sox and the Minnesota Twins ( Spring Training ). Fort Myers is also home to Hammond Stadium , where various teams, especially the Minnesota Twins, play regularly.

traffic

Interstate 75 , the Tamiami Trail ( US 41 ) and Florida State Roads 80 , 82 , 739 , 867 and 884 run through Fort Myers . Fort Myers is the seat of the Seminole Gulf Railway , a freight railroad company.

With the remote bus system Thruway Motorcoach the railway company Amtrak , there is a connection of the city of Tampa . At Union Station there , you can get a connection to the Silver Star and Silver Meteor trains .

Southwest Florida International Airport is located southwest of the city .

crime

The crime rate in 2010 was 456 points (US average: 266 points) in the high range. There were seven murders, 29 rapes, 152 robberies, 510 physical injuries, 628 break-ins, 1,877 thefts, 194 car thefts and seven arson attacks.

Personalities

Born in Fort Myers:

• Scott Hoffman (born 1961), rock drummer and percussionist
• Deion Sanders (born 1967), American football player
• Mindy McCready (1975-2013), country pop singer
• Elissa Steamer (* 1975), professional skater
• Plies (* 1976), gangsta rapper
• Halley Wegryn Gross (born 1985), actress
• Haley Bennett (* 1988), singer and actress
• De'Vondre Campbell (born 1993), American football player
• Sammy Watkins (born 1993), American football player

Known residents:

• Gerard Damiano (1928–2008), film director
• Al Oerter (1936-2007), track and field athlete

Fort Myers in the movie

• Scenes from the movie Zombie 2 were shot in Fort Myers.
• Some scenes from the movie Swamp of Crime were filmed in downtown Ft. Myers' shot.
• The independent film Trans was shot in Fort Myers.

Web links

Commons : Fort Myers, Florida  - Collection of pictures, videos, and audio files

• The City website (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Monthly Averages for Fort Myers, FL . The Weather Channel. Retrieved December 29, 2010.
2. ^ Precipitation averages for Fort Myers, FL . Sperling's Best. Retrieved December 29, 2010.
3. ↑ Map of the climatic zones according to the Köppen model
4. ^ Gregg Turner: A Short History of Florida Railroads. Arcadia Publishing , Mount Pleasant 2014, ISBN 978-1-4396-4254-2 .
5. ↑ Victims of Fort Myers church crash speak out ( Memento of the original from April 26, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. dated April 21, 2014 
6. ↑ Local 10: Car slams into church in Fort Myers during Easter service of April 21, 2014
7. ^ Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics: 2010 . United States Census Bureau . Retrieved April 11, 2013.
8. ↑ Language distribution 2000 . Modern Language Association . Retrieved April 11, 2013.
9. ↑ FLORIDA - Lee County. National Register of Historic Places , accessed July 29, 2015 . 
10. ↑ Fort Myers, FL (FTM) - Bus Stop ( Memento of the original from September 21, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. - amtrak.com 
11. ↑ http://www.city-data.com/crime/crime-Fort-Myers-Florida.html
12. ↑ Day of the Dead (1985) - Filming locations
13. ↑ Just Cause , IMDB
14. ^ Trans (1998) , IMDB