We’re going back in time to the early 1920s when the
tlantic Coast Line Railway depot was first being built. The City of Fort Myers had about 8-thousand residents at the time. Thomas Edison was still alive, and had been wintering in the city for decades, and Henry Ford has built his winter residence there about a decade before. The railway depot’s construction was a leap forward for the city, and marked the beginning of a growth period. It’s Spanish-mission style facade was a regular feature downtown, and it was a hub for the community. But, it was also a strong symbol of the racial segregation of the time with separate waiting rooms, bathrooms, and boarding platforms, and despite the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which banned segregation in public places, passengers continued to be separated by race for boarding at the depot all the way up until it closed in 1971. We explore the depots past with I-Mag History and Science Center historian, Jim Powers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=Yc62uVyF0nQ
