$19.95
Click Image
to Enlarge
Click here to read an article on Harvie Heitman by T. M. Jacobs. This first appeared in Gulf & Main Magazine spring 2009.
In late October 1888, a young man by the name of Harvie Earnhardt Heitman arrived in Fort Myers. Little did the citizens know that this stranger, all of sixteen years old at the time, would change the look of Fort Myers.
A short ten years later, Heitman secured the corner of Jackson and First Streets and built the first brick building in town. Yet, he didn’t stop there. He went on to build numerous brick structures along First Street, including The Bank of Fort Myers, The Arcade Theater, The Bradford Hotel, The Bradford Annex, and the Earnhardt building.
Throughout his life and years in Fort Myers, Heitman said “I have always stood squarely for everything that would help toward the advancement and up-building of Fort Myers.”Besides building along First Street, he also spearheaded many committees and boards that brought to the city the Pleasure Pier, Fort Myers County Club, and the Lee County Packing House, just to name a few.
Heitman was only 49 when he died in 1922. Yet, because of his entrepreneurism, his drive, his determination, and his focus on the community, he left the town of Fort Myers a landscape that has changed little over the past 88 years.
This book highlights Heitman’s accomplishments. Follow Heitman through his building and business successes, marrying into the Shultz family of Punta Rassa, and his friendship with Tootie McGregor Terry as well as struggling with the city council over clearing lots, severing ties with the Langford family, and arguing with William Towles over the courthouse.
This book contains over 100 photos, including some rare never before seen pictures that came from a collection of family memorabilia left behind by his daughter, Lorraine Blownstine, and a great collection of views of First Street over the years borrowed from the Southwest Florida Historical Society.
