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Hendry County, Florida
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==History== Indigenous peoples migrated into [[Florida]] around 10000 [[Common Era|B.C.E.]], while the [[Glades culture]] existed in southern Florida from approximately 500 B.C.E. to 1500 C.E.<ref name="native intro"/> Archaeological sites attesting to the presence of the Glades culture in modern-day Hendry County include Clewiston Mounds, Maple Mound, South Lake Mounds, and [[Tony's Mound]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pbchistoryonline.org/page/settlement-patterns|title=Settlement Patterns: Earthworks and Canals|publisher=Historical Society of Palm Beach County|accessdate=October 16, 2023|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20210914025421/https://www.pbchistoryonline.org/page/settlement-patterns|archivedate=September 14, 2021}}</ref> When Europeans arrived in Florida in the 16th century, the [[Calusa]] and [[Mayaimi]] tribes resided in [[Southwest Florida]] and around [[Lake Okeechobee]].<ref name="native intro">{{cite web|url=https://www.pbchistoryonline.org/page/native-americans|title=Native Americans – Introduction|publisher=Historical Society of Palm Beach County|accessdate=October 16, 2023|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407002037/http://www.pbchistoryonline.org/page/native-americans|archivedate=April 7, 2023}}</ref> In the early 1800s, French trader Pierre Denaud established a trading post in the modern-day [[LaBelle, Florida|LaBelle]] area.<ref name="nps.gov">{{cite report|url=https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/6449a1a7-d4f7-435a-8cbf-c040ae6fbf8b|title=National Register of Historic Places Registration Form (Captain Francis A. Hendry House)|date=2016|publisher=[[National Park Service]]|accessdate=September 13, 2021|format=PDF}}</ref>{{rp|8}} During the [[Seminole Wars]], [[United States]] troops built a fort along the [[Caloosahatchee River]] in 1838, named [[Fort Denaud, Florida|Fort Denaud]] in his honor. About three years later, Fort Thompson was established. These military posts became the first permanent settlements in modern-day Hendry County. Originally, the area now comprising Hendry County remained relatively inaccessible, as the [[Everglades|Florida Everglades]] covered more than half of the county's present-day boundaries. Further, nearly the entire area became submerged with water seasonally; thus, only cattle-grazing was a suitable industry. However, by 1881, the Atlantic and Gulf Coast and Okeechobee Land Company began draining the land after entering into a contract with the trustees of the internal improvement fund. The county's first post office was established at Fort Thomson in 1884.<ref name="WPA">{{cite report|url=https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/321111|title=Historical Sketch of Hendry County|date=June 1939|work=[[Works Progress Administration]]|publisher=[[Florida Memory]]|accessdate=September 13, 2021}}</ref>{{rp|3}} The state of Florida established [[Lee County, Florida|Lee County]] in 1887, which included land now part of Hendry County. Settlement in LaBelle began around 1889 or 1890, after the town was platted by [[Francis A. Hendry]], a cattle rancher, politician, and officer in the [[Confederate States Army]] during the [[American Civil War]].<ref name="nps.gov"/>{{rp|8}} Around the beginning of the 20th century, commercial fishermen began building fishing camps along Lake Okeechobee at Sand Point, later renamed [[Clewiston, Florida|Clewiston]], though the city was not permanently settled until about 1920.<ref name="vivafl500">{{cite web|url=https://vivafl500.org/cities/clewiston/|title=History Happened Here: Clewiston|publisher=vivafl500.org|accessdate=September 13, 2021}}</ref> In 1911, LaBelle became the oldest municipality in modern-day Hendry County after officially incorporating.<ref name="history of LaBelle"/> That same year, the United States government established the [[Big Cypress Indian Reservation]] in present-day Hendry County via executive order by President [[William Howard Taft]].<ref>{{cite journal|title=Indians, Non-Indians, and the Endangered Panther; Will the Indian/Non-Indian Conflict Be Resolved before the Panther Disappears?|author=Tina L. Morin|date=June 1992|issue=11|volume=13|url=https://scholarworks.umt.edu/plrlr/vol13/iss1/11/|journal=Public Land and Resources Law Review|accessdate=September 13, 2021}}</ref> By the early 1920s, residents in the eastern Lee County communities of Clewiston, [[Felda, Florida|Felda]], Fort Denaud, and LaBelle began campaigning for the creation of a new county. Among their reasons for supporting the establishment of a new county was dissatisfaction with the distance between eastern Lee County settlements and the county seat, [[Fort Myers, Florida|Fort Myers]]. Around that time, the ''Caloosahatchee Current'' was established to prove that the area could sustain a newspaper publication.<ref name="history of LaBelle">{{cite web|url=https://citylabelle.com/history-of-labelle/|title=The History of LaBelle|publisher=City of LaBelle, Florida|accessdate=September 13, 2021}}</ref> On May 11, 1923, just three days after neighboring [[Collier County, Florida|Collier County]] was also created and partitioned from Lee County, the Florida Legislature voted to establish Hendry County, named after Francis A. Hendry.<ref name="WPA"/>{{rp|3}} The first county commissioners were M.F. Boisclaire, M.E. Forrey, Thomas O'Brien, R.H. Magill, and L.N. Thomas. The town of LaBelle (chartered as a city in 1925) was designated as the county seat. A temporary jail was erected at a city park in LaBelle, while E.E. Goodno, who owned the Everett Hotel, allowed rooms and office space in the building to be used as a temporary courthouse.<ref name="nps.gov2"/>{{rp|8}} Residents voted by a wide margin in favor of a $530,000 bond issue in November 1924, with $430,000 to be allotted towards improvement of roads and $100,000 for construction of a courthouse.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85287323/news-press/|page=1|title=$530,000 Bond Issue for Hendry County Given Big Majority|date=November 22, 1924|newspaper=The Fort Myers Press|accessdate=September 13, 2021}} {{free access}}</ref> [[Old Hendry County Courthouse|The courthouse]] was finished in 1927,<ref name="nps.gov2">{{cite report|url=https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/64500828_text|title=National Register of Historic Places Registration Form (Historic and Architectural Resources of LaBelle)|date=January 2003|publisher=[[National Park Service]]|accessdate=September 14, 2021|format=PDF}}</ref>{{rp|7}} and has been listed in the [[National Register of Historic Places]] since 1990.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.flheritage.com/facts/reports/places/index.cfm?fuseaction=ListAreas&county=Hendry|title=Florida's History Through Its Places – Hendry County|publisher=[[Secretary of State of Florida|Florida Department of State]]|accessdate=September 14, 2021|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070216141515/http://www.flheritage.com/facts/reports/places/index.cfm?fuseaction=ListAreas&county=Hendry|archivedate=February 16, 2007}}</ref> In 1925, the only other incorporated municipality in Hendry County, Clewiston, became a city.<ref name="vivafl500"/> In mid-1926, a cross-state highway (initially designated as State Road 25, but [[Florida State Road 80|later renumbered 80]]) linking [[Fort Myers, Florida|Fort Myers]] to [[Palm Beach, Florida|Palm Beach]] was completed and passed through Hendry County. Around this time, the Gulf Atlantic Transportation, based in LaBelle, began providing transportation from Fort Myers to [[West Palm Beach, Florida|West Palm Beach]]. Another improvement to transportation occurred when the [[Seaboard–All Florida Railway]] started its rail service from LaBelle to Fort Myers in mid-1927.<ref name="nps.gov2"/>{{rp|9}} The [[1926 Miami hurricane]] and [[1928 Okeechobee hurricane]] both impacted Hendry County, though damage and loss of life was significantly less than in other areas around Lake Okeechobee.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85285599/tampa-bay-times/|title=Storm Causes Little Damage At Clewiston|date=September 27, 1926|newspaper=St. Petersburg Times|page=5|accessdate=September 13, 2021|via=Newspapers.com}} {{free access}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85285993/the-tampa-tribune/|title=Okeechobee Deaths Laid to Big Wave|date=September 19, 1928|newspaper=The Tampa Tribune|page=2|accessdate=September 13, 2021|via=Newspapers.com}} {{free access}}</ref> The [[British Flying Training School Program|Number 5 British Flying Training School]] was operated at [[Airglades Airport|Riddle Field]] in Clewiston during [[World War II]], with more than 1,800 [[Royal Air Force]] pilots trained there. Upon completion of the [[Herbert Hoover Dike]] in 1961, a dedication ceremony was held in Clewiston, which included a speech by former president [[Herbert Hoover]].<ref name="vivafl500"/>
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