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FREE Take Me Read Us Online at Home IslandSunNews.com VOL. 14, NO. 49 From the Beaches to the River District downtown Fort Myers DECEMBER 11, 2015 Holiday House Opens Friday he 2015 Holiday House tour of the historic TBurroughs and Langford Kingston Homes located at 2500 First Street in down- town Fort Myers is open nightly to the public beginning Friday, December 11 through December 23 from 5 to 9 p.m. The annual, festive tradition is a magical, beautiful gift to the community from the Fort Myers Women’s Community Club to celebrate the homes’ heritage and ignite a holiday spirit. Admission is $5 for adults and free for military veterans and children under age 10. This year’s theme is Holiday House Christmas in Tropical Paradise Theatre kids performing and will feature thousands of lights both inside and outside the homes . Each room in the historic homes is creatively Theatre Kids Bring Holiday decorated with holiday flair. For children there will be a visit and a gift from Santa Claus in the upstairs room of the Langford Kingston home. Cookies, drinks and holiday music Spirit To River District will also be part of the fun. More than 200 women from the local community club have been decorating the heatre Kids will perform their magical holiday production of A Christmas Carol homes. The three-day decorating event draws in members from all over the community, for the first time in Fort Myers at the Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center in the including volunteer families and children. Thistoric downtown River District at 2301 First Street December 18 to 20. “Our members plan and anticipate for this event all year,” said Gina Sabiston, Holiday A cast of young artists joins master storyteller Douglas Coventry in a performance House 2015 event chair. “This is our gift to the community which is why we keep the that blends narration, dance and creative movement in a one-of-a-kind rendition cost so low. We want all children to experience this one-of-a-kind holiday celebration.” continued on page 21 Santa’s Coming To The Estates ids of all ages are invited to come see Santa with Mrs. Claus, and Kwatch him draw cartoons at Edison & Ford Winter Estates on December 4, 11 and 18, from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Santa’s visit is part of the Edison Ford Holiday Nights celebration, which runs now through January 3, 2016. Doug MacGregor, a former cartoonist at The News-Press, has been playing Santa at Edison Ford for five years and has been an editorial cartoonist for more than 35 years. MacGregor also is a children’s author and illustrator and teaches cartooning classes. His books include Rad Hair Day; Get Creative, Turn on the Bright Side of Your Presents For Paws Holiday Drive Brain; Morgan McKinney was Portly, Not Skinny; Turtellini, The Turbo-Charged nimal Specialty Hospital of Florida invites Southwest Floridians to donate pet- Turtle; The Incredible Tongue Twister friendly items that will benefit local shelter animals during its inaugural Presents That Swallowed My Sister; and Ochre The Afor Paws. The hospital will match all Presents for Paws donations 100 percent Smoker. through December, and deliver them to Gulf Coast Humane Society. Ticket prices for Holiday Nights: The holly jolly wish list includes dog and cat toys, ThunderShirts, large harnesses, • Adults $20 peanut butter, marrow bones, cleaning supplies (bleach, Dawn dish soap, laundry soap, • Children (ages 6-12) $2 Santa draws a cartoon paper towels, trash bags, mops), hoses and spray nozzles, cat litter and grooming sup- • Students ages 13 to college age (with plies. college ID) $10 To help provide some holiday cheer to local shelter animals, Presents for Paws drop- • Edison Ford members free off locations are Animal Specialty Hospital of Florida, 10130 Market Street in Naples, Holiday Nights is closed Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, but open daily from 9 a.m. and Gulf Coast Humane Society, 2010 Arcadia Street in Fort Myers. to 9 p.m. during the month of December and until 5:30 p.m. the remainder of the year. “We are thrilled to help our friends at Gulf Coast Humane Society and to support For more information about Holiday Nights, call 334-7419 or visit www.edisonford- continued on page 5 winterestates.org. 2 THE RIVER - DECEMBER 11, 2015 This 1918 northeasterly view of Poinciana Park shows the beginnings of the subdivision boom along McGregor Boulevard, which peaked in 1925. The Caloosahatchee River is visible in the distance to the left of the Myron and Carrie Patch house. courtesy Southwest Florida Historical Society Historic Downtown Fort Myers, Then And Now: Ambrose and Tootie McGregor came to Fort Winding Through McGregor’s History Myers in 1891 for the by Gerri Reaves, PhD health of their son, Brad- ford. The wealthy couple’s ort Myers is known around the world for historic McGregor positive influence on the Boulevard, a classic thoroughfare lined with royal palms. development of the young F Soon, the city’s Flexible Pavement Reconstruction proj- town is difficult to measure. ect will refurbish a two-mile stretch of the road in conjunction Ambrose died in 1900, with the Florida Department of Transportation. The project will followed by Bradford’s involve changes to infrastructure and aesthetics between Poinci- death in 1902. Tootie ana Avenue and Colonial Boulevard. remarried in 1905, to Dr. So, it’s a good time to refresh our knowledge of the iconic Marshall Orlando “MO” boulevard’s rich history. The very royal palms that inspired the Terry. title City of Palms, as well as the road’s name and two memorials In 1912, Tootie along its path, reveal important chapters in local history. McGregor Terry made a What evolved into McGregor Boulevard was first a Seminole Indian trail and later a proposal to the City. She military trail during the Second Seminole War (1835 to 1842). When Union soldiers would build a 50-foot-wide occupied the U.S. Army Fort Myers in December 1863, they reopened what they macadam road from Whis- called the Colonel Persifor Frazer Smith Trail to Punta Rassa. key Creek to Punta Rassa, The boulevard also had a history as a cattle trail as far back as the Civil War, and if the city would extend it therefore played a major role in the area’s economic development. from the creek to Monroe Cowboys drove cattle down oyster-shelled McGregor Boulevard to Punta Rassa for Street in downtown Fort their shipment to Cuba, the West Indies and Central America. That trade lessened Myers. after the railroad came to town in 1904, but the last cattle drive down McGregor did No longer would River- not occur until 1922. side Drive be “paved” with In the town’s earliest years, the road was appropriately named Riverside Drive, at oyster shells; it would be least the section to Manuel’s Branch, which at that time was the far reaches of the a modern road. She also town. In those days, West First Street didn’t exist, and the drive truly lay closely along offered $500 per year for the river. maintenance. By 1961, McGregor’s majestic royal palms were its signature The road’s name change in 1915 is multi-part story that involves some of the city’s Both the city council look, as seen in this southwesterly view near the Edison Winter most notable benefactors. The modern boulevard is actually a memorial – in fact, a and the county commission Estate courtesy Florida State Archives double memorial of sorts. continued on page 4 Read Us Online: www.IslandSunNews.com Contributing Writers Click on The River Jennifer Basey Marion Hauser, MS, RD Advertising Sales Graphic Arts/Production Photographer Kimberley Berisford Ross Hauser, MD Isabel Rasi Ann Ziehl Michael Heider Suzy Cohen Audrey Krienen Bob Petcher Kristy See Ed Frank Capt. Matt Mitchell Writers Co-Publishers Rachel Atkins Jim George Patricia Molloy Gerri Reaves, Ph D Lorin Arundel Office Coordinator Shelley Greggs Di Saggau Anne Mitchell and Ken Rasi Patricia Molloy Tom Hall Cynthia A. Williams Jeff Lysiak The River Weekly News will correct factual errors or matters of emphasis and interpretation that appear in news stories. Readers with news, tips, comments or questions, please call (239) 415-7732 or write to: The River Weekly News, 1609 Hendry Street, Suite 15, Fort Myers, FL 33901. Fax number: (239) 415-7702. E-mail: [email protected]. The River Weekly News reserves the right to refuse, alter or edit any editorial or advertisement. PRINTED ON RECYCLED Independently Owned And Operated • COPYRIGHT 2015 The River Weekly News • LORKEN Publications, Inc. PAPER THE RIVER - DECEMBER 11, 2015 3 Fort Myers Art: Sanborn would implement. “I could use methods to encrypt (the Caloosahatchee sculpture) that had an historic basis, that didn’t compromise any current methods Manuscripts (of cryptography used by the govern- ment)… I wanted to make something that Sculptor Is 70 could eventually be deciphered or extract- by Tom Hall ed rather than something that will never be done, ever,” Scheidt comments. ight sculptor He figured that the first parts of the Jim Sanborn’s puzzle would take a few years to solve and Lbirthday the last part – maybe ten. And within the was November first few years, a CIA physicist deciphered 14. Born in three of them using nothing more than a Washington DC pen and paper. The first encryption was in 1945, he a poetic phrase containing an intentional is now 70. Of misspelling that Sanborn composed; course, Southwest the second refers to the CIA agent who Florida residents helped Sanborn with the four puzzles; and and visitors know the third is a passage from archeologist Sanborn as the artist who created Howard Carter’s account of opening the Caloosahatchee Manuscripts, the dual tomb of King Tutankhamun in 1922.

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