Editing Estero, Florida (section)

==History==
Mound Key, located in Estero Bay, is believed to have been the ceremonial center of the [[Calusa]] Indians when they were encountered by the Spanish in the early 1500s.<ref>{{cite web |title=Mound Key Archaeological State Park |url=https://www.floridastateparks.org/parks-and-trails/mound-key-archaeological-state-park |publisher=[[Florida Department of Environmental Protection]] |access-date=April 18, 2021}}</ref> German homesteader Gustave Damkohler began planting mulberry trees in 1882 along the Estero River, followed by others who established fish camps and the region's first citrus groves.<ref>Quentin Quesnell. (2020). "Early Estero," pp. 13-20. Published by the Estero Historical Society. ISBN 0-9726287-0-3.</ref> In 1894, Damkohler donated property to the followers of [[Cyrus Teed]], who proposed a theory that people live on the inside of the Earth's outer skin, and that celestial bodies are all contained inside the hollow Earth. This theory, which he called [[Koreshan Unity]], drew followers to occupy and develop Damkohler's original {{convert|320|acre|km2|adj=on}} tract. They were business-oriented and lived communally, prospering enough to found their own political party ("The Progressive Liberty Party") and incorporate the town on September 1, 1904, as Estero.<ref>Tampa Tribune. September 4, 1904, p. 1. "Biggest City in the World: New Jerusalem covers seventy-five square miles."</ref> At the behest of other local officials, the Florida legislature abolished the municipality of Estero in 1907.<ref>Pensacola News Journal. May 16, 1907, p. 4. "Will investigate the I.I. Committee."</ref>

During the 1910 US census, the population was 299.<ref name=19ten2nineteen20>{{cite web |title=Number and Distribution. Population of Counties by Minor Divisions: 1920, 1910, and 1900 |url=https://www2.census.gov/prod2/decennial/documents/06229686v8-13ch1.pdf |website=www2.census.gov |publisher=U.S. Census Bureau |access-date=November 8, 2023}}</ref> By the 1920 US census, it increased to 340 residents.<ref name=19ten2nineteen20/>

The 1908 death of Teed (who claimed to be immortal) was a critical blow to the group's faith, whose membership dwindled into the 1960s. The foundation remains as "The College of Life Foundation", which contributed (for example) at least $25,000 to the Gulf Shore Playhouse in or around 2007.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gulfshoreplayhouse.org/sponsors.htm |title=Donors' page for the Gulf Shore Playhouse, showing College of Life Foundation donation as of 21 April 2008 |access-date=April 21, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080510030003/http://www.gulfshoreplayhouse.org/sponsors.htm |archive-date=May 10, 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The Koreshans' original tract is now owned by Florida as the [[Koreshan State Historic Site]].

Access to Estero was greatly improved in the 1920s when [[Tamiami Trail]], a highway linking Tampa and Miami, and two railroads were built through the area.  Tamiami Trail was fully complete in 1928.  The [[Atlantic Coast Line Railroad]] (via its [[Lakeland—Fort Myers Line|Fort Myers Southern Railroad]] subsidiary) began service through Estero in 1925.  A competing railroad, the [[Seaboard Air Line Railroad]] also built a [[Fort Myers Subdivision (Seaboard Air Line Railroad)|rail line]] through Estero in 1927.  Today, the former Atlantic Coast Line tracks are still in place east of US 41 and have been owned by [[Seminole Gulf Railway]] since 1987.<ref name="Turner">{{cite book| last =Turner | first =Gregg M. | title =Railroads of Southwest Florida | publisher =Arcadia Publishing | series =Images of America | date =December 1, 1999}}</ref>  The former Seaboard tracks were removed in the 1940s and its former route west of US 41 is now an [[Florida Power and Light|FPL]] power line corridor.

Estero incorporated as a village on December 31, 2014.<ref name="esterohist"/>