The city of
Naples was founded during the late
1880s by former
Confederate general and
Kentucky U.S. Senator John Stuart Williams and his partner,
Louisville businessman
Walter N. Haldeman, the publisher of the
Louisville Courier-Journal. Throughout the
1870s and '80s, magazine and newspaper stories telling of the area's mild climate and abundant fish and game likened it to the sunny
Italian peninsula. The name Naples caught on when promoters described the bay as "surpassing the bay in
Naples, Italy".
Major development was anticipated after the railroad reached Naples on January 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
U.S. Army Air Forces 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 Avenue S, between
Gordon Drive and Gulf Shore
Boulevard. In 1949, Forrest Walker asked Mr.
Rust to sell him the 296 acres (
120 ha) from
Jamaica Channel to today's
14th Avenue S.
The Jamaica Channel was widened, one canal was dredged, and 14th Avenue S was created by
March 1950; a new subdivision was named "Aqualane Shores"[8] at the opening party that same year. Additional channels were eventually added to the south of 14th Avenue S and are named alphabetically for local water birds. The first channel south of 14th Avenue S is Anhinga Channel, then Bittern Channel is south of
15th Avenue S,
Crane Channel is south of 16th Avenue S,
Duck Channel is south of
17th Avenue S, and
Egret Channel is north of
21st Avenue S. From the channels there are coves named
Flamingo, Gull, Heron, and
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.
The 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, Gordon Drive to the west, and the land between 14th Avenue and 21st Avenue 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 the Bay of Naples, and the area from 14th Avenue S all the way south to Jamaica Channel. The numerous canals and waterfront homes add a distinctive feature to the south portion of Naples and provide access to the Gulf of Mexico for many homeowners.
- published: 01 Apr 2016
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