St. James City Early Time Line

1873 September Captain John Smith and his family move to St. James City to become the town’s first modern day residents
1879 Pine Island is surveyed for Homesteading
1895 May 16th The St. James-on-the-Gulf is Incorporated, 3 months before Fort Myers is incorporated
1886 January The 50 room San Carlos Hotel opens for their first winter season
1896 July 27th The Post Office is set up in Whiteside’s General Store
1905 The Koreshans purchase the San Carlos Hotel and the wharf
1905 The San Carlos Hotel burns to the ground when a worker leaves a smudge pot burning at night
1911 Sisal Hemp and Development Corporation from Tampa buys land from St. Jame-on-the-Gulf Corporation.  They construct a factory, ice house, new hotel and fixed the large wharf
1912 First school house is built on Eighth and Oleaner, but the residents feel it is too far away, so it is moved to an area bordered by Fifth Avenue, Lemon, Fourth and Date
1915 Sisal Hemp and Development Corporation goes bankrupt

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