The name Fort Myers originated as an engagement present from Gen. David Twiggs to his daughter’s fiancé, Col. Abraham C. Myers, who was in charge of the fort.
Fort Myers was founded after the Civil War by Capt. Manuel A. Gonzalez on February 21, 1866. The town was officially incorporated on August 12, 1885. The site of the town was originally a fort built during the Seminole Indian Wars, which was later abandoned and disassembled.
The Calusa Indians were the first to discover the charms of the Fort Myers/Sanibel area as long ago as 5,000 B.C. By the turn of the 20th century, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and other prominent Americans who spent their winters here, helped put the area on the modern-day map.
