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The Making of
Cape Coral
From pioneers to paradise — a modern tale of success .
Photos Courtesy of Cape Coral Museum / Historical Society
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Coral ’ s existence isn ’ t as storied as other major cities , but few places have had so much happen so fast as the creation of the biggest city in Southwest Florida-one that evolved from wilderness to “ Waterfront Wonderland ” in the span of six decades .
Well into the 20 th century , the land now covered by neighborhoods and businesses was an isolated backcountry inhabited by cattle , citrus groves and pioneers . As late as the 1920s , the federal government was giving homesteaders 160 acres of free land for settling and improving it . At the start of the 1950s , scattered homesteads and large tracts of investor landholdings shared the region .
Leonard and Jack Rosen , brothers from Baltimore , Md ., visited south Florida in 1957 in search of new business prospects . When they saw the vacant land in Cape Coral , they envisioned it as a new city , and bought 103 square miles at Redfish Point .
To make their dream a reality , the Rosens formed the Gulf American Land Corp ., and by 1959 work was underway , clearing land and dredging miles of canals to fulfill their dream of creating the world ’ s
capecoralchamber . com 46 largest waterfront community .
At the time , there was only one road in Cape Coral — Harney Point Road — and it was later renamed Del Prado Boulevard . The Rosens laid down two miles of Cape Coral Parkway starting at the Caloosahatchee River , marking the northern boundary of early development .
The first eight houses were built as models in 1958 along Riverside and Flamingo drives . ( The earliest roads have names ; later roads were given numerical designations .) Kenny Schwartz is credited with being the new city ’ s first resident