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History · Everglades

Everglades dates to 1892, and 3 of its places are on the National Register

Most of Everglades was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2000. Its Register listings are the Bank of Everglades Building, the Everglades Laundry and the Old Collier County Courthouse. Below: 9 old photos and papers, maps from 1974 on, and the census since 1930.

1892founded
3on the National Register
9%homes built before 1940
9old photos & papers
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Everglades’ archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Everglades began

When was Everglades founded?

1892

Everglades dates its founding to 1892 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1930.

First census: 172 in 19302020 census: 352134 years
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1893.The full story ↓

What stands out about Everglades’ past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

Boom and bustPeaked at 625 in 1950; 352 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · People over time

Everglades, census by census

010020030040050060070019401960198020002020Peak: 625

Peaked at 625 in 1950; 352 people lived here in 2020.

10 censuses, 1930–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Everglades’ Wikipedia page.

The story

How Everglades came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Everglades.

Read it all →

The area around Chokoloskee Bay, including the site of Everglades City, was occupied for thousands of years by Native Americans of the Glades culture, who were absorbed by the Calusa shortly before the arrival of Europeans in the New World.

By the time Spanish Florida was transferred from Spain to the United States in 1821 as Florida Territory, the area was uninhabited. A legend says that Seminoles planted potatoes along what is now the Barron River during the Seminole Wars, in the vicinity of the present Everglades City.

Chapters19th century20th century

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Everglades, 1890 to 1995

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1890Born hereNeal Storter is born here
  3. 1892
    FoundingEverglades is established
  4. 1893Post officeThe Everglade post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1900In the archiveSugar cane
  7. 1910In the archiveDrainage canal and Everglades, Miami, Fla
  8. 1925Post officeThe Everglade post office closes
  9. 1925Post officeThe Everglades post office opens
  10. 1926BuiltOld Collier County Courthouse is built
  11. 1945In the archiveDeaconess Bedell with medicine man and Bobby Jim Tiger outside the mission
  12. 1950CensusPopulation peaks at 625
  13. 1968Post officeThe Everglades post office closes
  14. 1968Post officeThe Everglades City post office opens
  15. 1974On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  16. 1980In the archiveBog in the Florida Everglades
  17. 1995In the archiveBank of the Everglades- Everglades City, Florida
By decade

Everglades, decade by decade

5 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1900s–1910s6 items
Sugar cane1900Sugar caneThe Everglades, the big swamp of Florida, U.S.A1905The Everglades, the big swamp of Florida, U.S.AEverglades, Five Miles West of Miami, Fla., U. S. A1905Everglades, Five Miles West of Miami, Fla., U. S. AA Lone Sentinel in the Everglades of Florida1908A Lone Sentinel in the Everglades of FloridaDrainage canal and Everglades, Miami, Fla1910Drainage canal and Everglades, Miami, FlaStortertradingpostc. 1917Stortertradingpost
1940s1 item
Deaconess Bedell with medicine man and Bobby Jim Tiger outside the mission1945Deaconess Bedell with medicine man and Bobby Jim Tige…
1950s–1970snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
1980s–1990s2 items
Bog in the Florida Everglades1980Bog in the Florida EvergladesBank of the Everglades- Everglades City, Floridac. 1995Bank of the Everglades- Everglades City, Florida
Today3 recent
Laguncularia racemosa in the2008Laguncularia racemosa in theOld Texaco Gas Tank in Everglades City - Nov 20072007Old Texaco Gas Tank in Everglades City - Nov 2007Old Car in Everglades City "Downtown" - 20072007Old Car in Everglades City "Downtown" - 2007
On the map

Everglades on the map in 1974

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Everglades.

Everglades on the 1974 USGS map1974Everglades City sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Everglades.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Sugar cane
Retake this viewSugar cane, 1900

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Everglades’ page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

3 historic places in Everglades

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
3
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
3
each building in a district counts
first listed
1999
Bank of Everglades Building
Bank of Everglades BuildingEverglades LaundryOld Collier County Courthouse, built 1926
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Late 19th Century and 20th Century Revivals1
Classical Revival1
Frame Vernacular1
Bank of Everglades BuildingLate 19th Century and 20th Century Revivals
Everglades LaundryFrame Vernacular
Old Collier County CourthouseBuilt 1926

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices and old corners

Everglades had its own post office from 1925 to 1968. Another post office, Everglade, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Everglade
1893–1925
Everglades
1925–1968
Everglades City
1968–today
18901960today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Everglades City

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Help out

Finish Everglades’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
5 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewSugar cane: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Plantation IslandIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Everglades’ history

What year was Everglades founded?

In 1892, according to Wikidata. Everglades’ post office opened in 1893, and the census of 1930 counted 172 people here.

What is on the National Register in Everglades?

Three places: the Bank of Everglades Building (listed 1999), the Everglades Laundry (2001) and the Old Collier County Courthouse (2013).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (6), the Library of Congress (6), the National Register of Historic Places (3), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.