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Fascinating early map of Fort Myers, Florida, printed on linen, with extensive manuscript annotations. Quite possibly the the first printed map of Fort Myers.

The first settlers in the area of Fort Myers arrived around 1839. Fort Myers was built along the Caloosahatchee River, during the Seminole Wars. Only Fort Denaud, Fort Thompson, and Fort Dulany (Punta Rassa) pre-date Fort Myers. When a hurricane destroyed Ft. Dulany in October 1841, the military selected the location for the new Fort Harvie as a more sheltered location and constructed the new fort on what would become Downtown Fort Myers. The fort was reconstructed in 1850, at which time it was renamed Fort Myers in honor of Colonel Abraham C. Myers, who was soon to wed the daughter of Major General David E. Twiggs, then commanding Fort Brooke (Tampa). At the height of its operations, the Fort Myers featured a 1,000 foot wharf, and more than 50 buildings.

The US Military abandoned Fort Myers several times between 1858 and its final closure in 1865. In 1866, Manuel A. Gonzalez and Joseph Vivas took up residence at the abandoned fort. Cattleman Jacob Summerlin often drove his herds past the old fort grounds on the way to Punta Rassa. During the late 1860s and early 1870s, settlers began to arrive in the area. Fort Meyers was first surveyed in 1876, the year in which its first US Post Office was established. In that year, the plat for Fort Myers was recorded in Key West, then county seat for Monroe County, which then included all of what is now Lee County. The town was incorporated in 1885 as the Town of Fort Myers (population 349), the same year as Thomas Alva Edison's arrival and one year after the creation of Lee County.

The map was printed shortly after Thomas Edison's arrival in Fort Myers in 1885. The map shows the T.A. Edison Labratory on the Caloosahatchee River, just south of the main concentration of homes and businesses. The map almost certainly is contemporary to the date given in the title, as the primary merchants in the center of town appear to be owned by the Hendry Family, whose arrival in Fort Myers in the 1870s marks the beginning of Fort Myers "modern" history. Francis A. Hendry created a large cattle ranch of some 25,000 acres in the area and was very active in local and Florida State politics.

The annotations on the map were prepared by a careful and quite possibly skilled hand. Southeast is at the top of the map, with semi-circles radiating out from the post office (shown in red pen in the vicinity of First Street, Riverside Avenue, Jackson Street and Hendry Street) in half mile increments. The printed and manuscript information includes dozens of land owners names, hotels, and business names, including Guava and Cocoanut Groves on the south end of town. A number of manuscript annotations herald the arrival of a number of new landowners, who were purchasing large tracts of land outside of the city limits. A note showing Dr. Wm. Hanson's Addition to Fort Myers is shown on the south side of the city limits.

The map is an historical document of great significance, illustrating Fort Myers in the year of its incorporation. The Library of Congress map collection does not include any 19th Century maps of Fort Myers and OCLC locates no maps of the town of Fort Myers which pre-date this map.