Jan Ellen Atkielski's Mural of the Arches in Town Hall Chambers
Wonderful Fort Myers Beach Former Mayor Anita Cereceda made her first video in "Local Color" (her twice monthly magazine) about the Arches. This made my heart warm inside this morning. Let's put them back. https://www.facebook.com/theislandergiftgalleryandboutique/videos/276245129781540/
Tom Phillips 1st Gulf Shore Casino
When Tom Phillips installed the 1st bridge over Matanzas Pass in 1921. He charge roughly 50 cents a car. Sometime there would be 200 cars a day. The first Casino in Fort Myers Beach was built by Tom Phillips in 1921 at 1270 Estero Blvd which included a gulf pier near the Phillips Casino. It was a 70 X 70 beachfront two story building. It would later become the Gulfshore Inn. The casino had a dance floor, and orchestra. He also built the Phillips-Fielder Pavillion and Bathhouse. The casinos brought power generation and many improvements to the early beach lifestyle. http://shuckersfmb.com/ The Gulf Shore Casino had the distinction of great food, drink and dancing. The "Gulf Shore" was built by Tom Phillips but was first known as Pete Nelson's "Crescent Beach Casino" when Estero Island was called Crescent Beach, until 1925. Built originally as a bathing casino with rentals of a bathhouse, swimsuit and towel. He also sold hot dogs and hamburgers to visitors parked along the wide shoreline, as seen above. Later additions included a gambling casino with dance floor, becoming a restaurant after the 1926 hurricane. In 1930 the name changed to "Gulf Shore Inn" when rental rooms were added, and became popular with winter visitors. During the 1940's, it was home to officers stationed in town during WWII, and after the 1944 hurricane, as seen above. Hurricane repairs and construction were completed with more remodeling after the relentless "no name" storms in the 1950's and Hurricane Donna in 1960.By 1997 another name change occurred when "The Cottage" next door was acquired and named just that, as an indoor/outdoor bar with deck adjacent to the original dining room. It was renamed "The Gulf Shore Grill" and today both remain with the same familiar beachside view, riding out Hurricane Charlie in 2004 and other nuisance storms on the more recently renourished Gulf shore in 2011.
1st Canal in Fort Myers dug by Tom Phillips
Developer Tom Phillips and the San Carlos on the Gulf Corperation dug the 1st Canal on Fort Myers Beach behind Canal Steet. They sold small lots for cottages to mostly fishermen. The cost was between $400 - $1000. Frank Green and his family had a grocery store and fish house on the bay on the north corner of the 1st canal Tom Phillip's dug behind Crescent St (where https://matanzas.com/restaurant/ Mantanza on the Bay and Inn Rests today). The storm took their house and Store from there and it floated across Mantanzas Bay and landed on the sandbar where the shrimp boats dock today... Their cat and a canary cage with two tweeties in it rode across Mantanzas Bay in the house. After that, every resident who saw the cat called him "Captain Tom".Everything was washed away... the store and house... all that was left was a metal water tank. Bad storm for sure. Captain Tom remains the first and only cat to sail across Mantanzas Pass in a hurricane. Only in FMB.
Old San Carlos Blvd and the Tom Phillips Bridges
The Tom Phillips built the 1st wood bridge accross Matanzas Pass in 1921. It landed very near on the Island near Snug Harbour Marina. It was replaced in 1926 after the Great Miami Hurricane. Presumably the bridge was bought used from Broward County and also financed and installed by Tom Phillips. Old San Carlos Blvd was the southern landing side of the Tom Phillips swing bridge on Estero Island. The swing bridge was install in 1926 after the great Miami Hurricane with Tom Phillips own money. He aligned the placement of his bridge with the alreay constructed 1924 Arches. San Carlos Blvd was named after Tom Phillip's company San Carlos on The Gulf. It started in Iona and bypassed the old road to Mantanzas Pass John Morris Rd. It was called the Beach bypass by locals for years. In 1979 the Swing Bridge was replaced by the current Sky Bridge and the new landing on the southern side of San Carlos Blvd changed to where it is today. As you cross the bridge you will make a left on Main Street then an immediate left on Fishermans Warf South. Pull into parking under the bridge.
Original Location of the 1924 Tom Phillips Arches
In 1924 Tom Phillips built his Arches. They were the iconic front door to Fort Myers Beach. Beloved by it's citizens and vistors. The Arches were the gateway to Fort Myers Beach. They were adjacent to Jack's for many years. The building that is now the Ostego Bay Foundation Marine Science Center. It is quite the activity center. When the Arches were built, they faced his development "San Carlos On The Gulf". The Arches were the pride of San Carlos. The plan was to light them up and install a bell. This never came about as a Hurricane in 1926 destroyed the area. In 1926 after the great Miami Hurricane, Tom Phillips 1921 Wood Bridge ws destroyed. He used his own money and resources to procure the swing bridge. Theory is he bought it used from Broward County. He aligned his new swing bridge to the Arches. The swing bridge and the Arches marked the entrance to Fort Myers Beach from 1924-1979. The only way onto the island was through the Arches until 1960 when the bridge on the southern end of the island was put in. Accross the street, Bonita Bills has hosted many fundraisers for our group. They are a very nice on the water eating facility that locals love. The iconic Arches meant home to Fort Myers Beach citizens, and they meant Fort Myers Beach to our visitors. In the late 1970s the old swing bridge was prone to breakdowns. In 1979 work on a contract awarded to replace the swing bridge began, it was released to the public that the Arches would have to go. Many tried to save them. Citizen groups like the Jaycees and others tried to save the Arches, they were successful in getting the Lee County Commisioners to ask the contractor to relocate the Arches to a County Park instead of destroying them. The contractor agreed to do it. A message was sent to FDOT state level officials to stand down on destroying the Arches until they could be relocated. Nowbody told the wrecking ball and forklift subcontractor. Citizens, Government, FDOT and contractors were all in dismay. The Arches laid destroyed. Citizens were stopping on the side on the road and picking up pieces of the Arches to take home. One of the contractors Frank Hemelgarn relocated the remains of the Arches to his yard where they remained for 40 years. Restore Fort Myers Beach Arches, Inc is committed to restoring them using some original materils. There is now a push to find a place to reconstruct them.
The San Carlos On The Gulf Sales Pavilion
The sales pavilion was built on the east side just through the Arches in 1924 and was the place people came to look at the future of San Carlos and get information to buy small lots for beach cottages range from $400-1000. The San Carlos On The Gulf Corperation ran all activites through it until 1926. In 1926 the pavilion and fountain disappear, it is not clear if it was remove to run the new San Carlos Blvd to the Swing brige through the Arches, or if it was a destroyed by the Great Miami Hurricane. The Pavilion was ornately decorated and the fountain was a favorite of the visitors. The fountain had the same Coquina Limestone construction as the Arches.
Tom Phillips 1924 Stone Monument/Grand Hotel
The Stone Monument was one of many stone structures built by Tom Phillips in 1924. The Stone Monument is also built with the same construction style the Arches were built with Coquina Stone and Grout Lines in steel reinforce concrete. In 2018, our group sent our stone mason Ted Tayer over to do repairs on the Stone Monument at no cost to the County. We also send the South High FFA over to do some beautification (It is need of again). This rejuvenation project helped make the Stone Monument structure now 96 years old last for another 96 years. Our group also added the signage. Directly accross the street ws the propossed location of the Grand Hotel. The site included the areas 1st ever sea wall built in 1924. The Grand Hotel was going to be the crowning accomplishment of the San Carlos Corperation and never came to be due to the end of the housing boom and the great damage to the area after the Great Miami Hurricane.
The original Road To Matanzas Pass/Estero Pass
The 1926 Great Miami Hurricane that ended the boom of the late 1920s in this area, created the waterway Estero Pass just pass the end of the road. There were no bridges on the north end of San Carlos, San Carlos was not an island prior to that hurricane. It was part of the mainland. The original road to Mantanzas Pass was John Morris Road down to Bunche Beach over a small strip of land connecting to this place. San Carlos Drive was part of that John Morris Road back then. The Hurricane created San Carlos Island.
Hurricane Pass/Hurricane Bay
Estero Pass to the west, Hurricane Pass a here, and Hurricane Bay to the east were all created by the great Miami Hurricane in 1926. The planners of that era put this bridge in first as a wooden bridge that was still here in the 1970s. The wood bridge lined up newly constructed San Carlos Blvd, The Arches, and the Swing Bridge in 1926.
Remains Of The Arches/Former Home of Frank and Rebecca Hemelgarn
Frank Hemelgarn was a bit of an go getter. He ran Time Square and the Tip Top. He is the one that put the rock wall in next to what is now the Pierside and the Pier after Hurricane Donna. Some say he was the first to use the phrase "Time Square" in refering to the Fort Myers Beach iconic area. He ran a construction company out of his home on Rebecca Court and the street was named after his wife. He had a contract to remove the Arch pieces and placed them in his yard where some still remain today. In early 2019 our group removed the remains from 40 years of undergrowth with heavy equipment,and had what remained of the Arches 3-D imaged by the USF IDEX. We also had them reconstruct the Arches in 3-D modeling using the original materials and FDOT documents for dimensions. The goal is to us the original materials were possible in a new Arch. Our community loved the Arches and using original stone will make a new Arch feel like the old one. Some of those that stopped in 1979 on the side of the road to pick up pieces of the Arches have donated those stones back to us. Some of them would like to set their original Arch stones into the new Arches. Although some of these stones are 2,000 and some are 10,000 we can use the magic of 3D imagining to capture and manipulate them as if they were pebbles. We have learn much of the original construction and will us these techniques to build the new ones. Some of these will be in the new Arches. When they destroyed our identity (the Arches) they took a part of our town with it. It was all a big mistake that we are trying to correct.
The Tom Phillips Bell Tower 1924-1944
Tom Phillips built stone structures all over the area. Of note was the Bell Tower built at the corner of McGregor and the new San Carlos Blvd in 1926. It show vistors were to to and how to get to San Carlos. This intersection had many names, Miners Corner, Barlett's Corner, and the Beach Cut-off. But if you mentioned any of these people knew what you were talking about. The iconic Bell Tower was removed in 1944 and the bell was apparently used in the war effort. The Bell Tower is still remembered by many residents. At one time the shopping area accross the street was called Bell Tower Plaza.
