Punta Gorda Isles is a waterfront community with boating access to Charlotte Harbor. Punta Gorda Isles began in 1958. "PGI" features concrete seawalls, central water and sewer and strong, but reasonable deed restrictions. There are 65 miles of wide, saltwater canals (minimum width of 100 feet), with access times to the harbor ranging from seconds to 55 minutes. All waterfront properties are in the Canal Maintenance Program, which is run by the City of Punta Gorda. It maintains the seawalls and also keeps the canals dredged for continuous good boating access. You can travel the entire coast of Florida and not find a better value in waterfront properties than in Punta Gorda Isles.
The History of Punta Gorda Isles*
"How It all Started" by Bud Cole
For myself, Punta Gorda Isles is not a thing but an experience, the bare beginning of which, I suppose, stretches back to a day in the summer of 1950. It was hot and I was flying as a passenger in a "goony bird" that was just setting down on a little island in sight of the China coast. We taxied to a stop on the dirt runway and I alighted to be greeted by a cloud of red dust. The center of this red tornado, it soon appeared, was occupied by an extremely disreputable jeep driven by an even more disreputable mustached Chinese pirate. I piled into the jeep and discovered on the ride to our quarters that under the layers of grime, behind the wild eyes, and past the inscrutable countenance an ugly American was lurking, whose name, it turned out, was Al Johns.
Al and I assisted the government in various unlikely projects for three years or so, before returning to the States. A few months after my arrival in the Far East, Sam Burchers appeared on the scene and the three of us became close friends.
The mid '50's found Bob Barbee, a schoolmate and friend of Al's, Al and myself in Fort Lauderdale learning to be "land development businessmen" from, perhaps, the most successful developer of prime waterfront property in the country, James Stone Hunt of Coral Ridge Properties, Fort Lauderdale. We experimented with this newly-won knowledge on a small subdivision in Fort Lauderdale and then a larger one in North Miami Beach.
By 1957 we were involved in waterfront development of 300 lots on Biscayne Bay in Coral Gables. Sam Burchers had come back from directing a motion picture in Mexico and joined us. We were four happy bachelors in a big city when, at a conference with James Buchanan - then Board Chairman of General Development Corporation - the plans for Port Charlotte were unrolled. This was the first mention of the City of Punta Gorda. I had never heard of it, while Al risked the statement that it meant something "big" in Spanish.
What with big things brewing on the West Coast of Florida, Bob and Al took a sightseeing trip by plane and promptly fell in love with the Punta Gorda "point". The idea of the second-largest harbor on the entire Gulf of Mexico, a county with more shoreline than any other in the State, a 100-square-mile public hunting preserve, and, of course, the clincher - an unrivaled ideal location, protected, secluded, and yet immediately available to the outside world, was awful strong medicine.
Bud was dragged over by car and shown the view of the point from the bridge. He was told that "you can't exactly get there from here, but it sure is pretty and we better buy it". Bud and Sam agreed and with considerable help and understanding from the owners, Gerald Moody (Greenfuel Gas Co., Fort Myers) and George Sanders (owner of Edison Mall), title of the first 550 acres passed to Punta Gorda Isles, Inc. on the last day of the year, 1957.
One local wag, when he heard that the mangrove swamp, with its millions of fiddler crabs, was to become a beautiful subdivision with canals throughout, made a sage observation..."they must be out of their cotton-pickin' heads". Several others thought so, as well. Fortunately W>T>Price, of Price Dredging Corporation, and also President of Coconut Grove Bank, had faith that the young corporation could make the subdivision go and he backed up his belief with credit in the form of earthmoving and road building.
Part II
At about this point, an unmistakable Italian gentleman came chugging down the pike in a 1034 Plymouth automobile minus two hubcaps, fresh from the big cold city, looking for sunshine and clean air. John Matares had no previous experience in anything related to the land development business. He knew what he wanted and was not afraid of hard work. He stated from the first day he would have a house, boat and family in Punta Gorda Isles one day and, though it seemed unlikely at the time, John made it happen and contributed to the success of the venture in so doing.
The first four homes were constructed on the west shore of what is now the basin behind the office. These were Scholtz package homes. A temporary sales office (which is now the maintenance building located on another site) served as company headquarters. In early '58, an office had been built on U>S> 41 on Charlotte Harbor, on the north side of the bridge. Prospective buyers were taken by boat to view, from the water, the future Punta Gorda Isles. The building was soon sold, however, and is now occupied by the Sea Horse Marina.
The first three homes to be occupied in Punta Gorda Isles were the Wilder house (the small home adjacent to the tennis courts), the Ettenger home and the Cole residence on Donna Court.
About the time we started making the first sales, we needed some professional management for our finances and record-keeping. Russ Faber, C.P.A., who was in business in Coral Gables, supplied this commodity. A couple of years later Russ, tired of running back and forth, was induced to take up residence here permanently.
Meanwhile, back in the subdivision, a few more neighbors moved in. Sam, Bob and Al took up residence in the model homes and on September 17, 1960, the first Isles baby, John Cole, put in his appearance.
John was followed, not long afterward, by Kevin Johns, Sammy Burchers and others.
Sales were slow those first two years, but by the early 60's, the basic "pioneering" was over and the future course set.
The detailing of our basic group would not be complete without our attorneys, the Farrs - Drayton Farr, Jr. doing most of our work and without him, certainly, our company would have taken another form. His knowledge of the local conditions, attitudes, etc. as well as his legal counsel contributed heavily to our success.
Don Witter's interest and the backing of First Federal made possible our minor housing boom when out of town financial institutions wrinkled their noses. As a matter of fact, the understanding of the local people in public life and out made the project feasible.
When I think back on those early days, certain scenes seem to characterize the times. There was, of course, no B & B Shopping Center, much less the Punta Gorda Mall and the two motels. The old Charlotte Harbor Hotel, constructed in 1885 occupied most of what is now the Punta Gorda Mall Shopping Center and the monstrous pool was located near the Howard Johnson site, The hotel burned to the ground one night in 1959.
The Punta Gorda Federal Savings and Loan (now the First Federal Savings and Loan) did business in one small office in the "Mall" in the King Building on East Marion Avenue. They had one safe, about the size of a file cabinet. The Post Office occupied the end of that "Mall". The First National Bank was located on the southwest corner of U.S. 41 and Marion Avenue and what little business activity there was resided on West Marion. A great number of the stores, however, were boarded up, had broken glass and cobwebs. There were but two restaurants in the area, neither of which had air conditioning.
The hospital was a barracks building and the road to the Isles was unpaved. The Isles telephone had seven other parties on it.
Wonderful Memories,
Bud Cole
* From the 13th edition of the Charlotte County Newsletter. Re/Max Southwest Realty