Cape Coral, Florida. The history behind our waterfront wonderland.
In 1957, two brothers, Leonard and Jack Rosen, purchased a peninsula called Redfish Point for around $680,000.00 and developed one of the largest master planned communities, known today as Cape Coral Florida.
The brothers envisioned Redfish Point as a “Waterfront Wonderland” where people could retire to enjoy the warm weather and water views year round. The Gulf American Corporation was formed to develop Cape Coral, and the Rosens purchases airplanes and would fly in clients from all over the world and sell them a piece of paradise.
The first building built was the Rosens sales office. Cape Coral Pkwy, SW 47th Ter, and Coronado Pkwy were used as landing strips for sales flights to take off and land from. They would fly clients over the area and drop a flour sack out of the plane onto the piece of land that the client wanted to purchase.
By 1959, The land sold for $990 for a water view lot, $1990 for a water front lot, and $3390 for a river front lot. All you had to pay was $20 down and $20 a month. Within the first 5 months, land sales had reached 5 million. Cape Coral received 108,000 visitors via plane in the first year, including several celebrities due to the heavy advertising.
As land was sold and homes were being built, canals were dug throughout the city in order to provide the fill dirt to raise the elevation to the required height. The very first homes were constructed in the yacht club area, on Flamingo and Riverside Dr.
Today, Cape Coral has over 400 miles navigable canals, with about 100 of those miles leading to the Gulf of Mexico. The population of Cape Coral is estimated to be 204,510 as 2021. For more statistical data, you can click here to visit the CENSUS BUREAU.
For More information on this growing city, see Cape Coral, A Waterfront Wonderland.