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Immokalee,through time.

7 eras · 1870–2026 · every fact sourced · compiled from the sources shown, not yet reviewed by a historian

Start in 1870
Populationfrom 1990

—

Gopher Ridge

1870–1913: Gopher Ridge

Era 1 · 1870–1913

Gopher Ridge

Seminoles used the high prairie as a hunting ground and called it Gopher Ridge. From the 1870s hunters, trappers, cowmen, missionaries and Indian traders settled there, and in 1897 the settlement took the name Immokalee.

Image shown for this era: Josie Billie and Frank Brown standing together at Immokalee in 1908; Josie's hat, vest and tie came from Brown's Store. 1908 · State Library and Archives of Florida, Florida Memory (call number RC07720), via Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Source

Key moments

  1. William Allen settles at Gopher Ridge

    William Allen was the first pioneer to make a permanent home on the high prairie the Seminoles called Gopher Ridge; the place was known for a time as Allen's Place.

    Source

    1. Collier County Centennial: History, Collier County (official centennial history site) (accessed 2026-11-09)

  2. George Hendry builds a log cabin

    George Hendry built a log cabin on land he owned from the 1870s. It was the earliest house in Immokalee built by non-Indians and later became the Roberts family's first home.

    Source

    1. Roberts Ranch, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, National Park Service (accessed 2026-11-09)

  3. Gopher Ridge becomes Immokalee

    The settlement took the name Immokalee, from a Seminole word meaning "my home."

    Source

    1. Roberts Ranch, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, National Park Service (accessed 2026-11-09)

Sources

  1. Roberts Ranch, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, National Park Service (accessed 2026-11-09)
  2. Collier County Centennial: History, Collier County (official centennial history site) (accessed 2026-11-09)
Correct this era: Gopher Ridge

Era 2 · 1914–1920

Frontier Cow Town

When the Roberts family arrived by wagon in 1914, Immokalee was a frontier crossroads of a few homesteads, hotels, saloons and a store, used by cowhunters driving cattle south to ship to Cuba. A road to Fort Myers opened in 1917.

Key moments

  1. The Roberts family arrives by wagon

    Bob and Henri Roberts and their seven children made the 100-mile trip from Ona with ox carts and 300 scrub cattle, founding what became the Roberts Ranch.

    Source

    1. Roberts Ranch, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, National Park Service (accessed 2026-11-09)

  2. Road to Fort Myers opens

    A road finally connected Immokalee to Fort Myers.

    Source

    1. Collier County Centennial: History, Collier County (official centennial history site) (accessed 2026-11-09)

Sources

  1. Roberts Ranch, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, National Park Service (accessed 2026-11-09)
  2. Collier County Centennial: History, Collier County (official centennial history site) (accessed 2026-11-09)
Correct this era: Frontier Cow Town

Era 3 · 1921–1940

Rails, Ranches and a New County

The Atlantic Coast Line Railway reached Immokalee in 1921, ending its isolation, and the area became part of the new Collier County. Ranching, farming, lumbering and oil grew once transportation improved.

Image shown for this era: A midwife standing with a Seminole woman and two girls in patchwork dress beside a thatched chickee at a camp in Immokalee, 1930. 1930 · State Board of Health collection, State Library and Archives of Florida, Florida Memory (call number C002678), via Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Source

Key moments

  1. Railroad arrives from LaBelle

    The Atlantic Coast Line Railway's route from LaBelle opened Immokalee to trade and communication.

    Source

    1. Collier County Centennial: History, Collier County (official centennial history site) (accessed 2026-11-09)

  2. Roberts family builds its ranch house

    The Roberts family replaced the old log cabin with a new wood-frame residence, part of the ranch complex that survives today.

    Source

    1. Roberts Ranch, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, National Park Service (accessed 2026-11-09)

  3. Roberts store becomes a trading post

    William Dius Roberts opened a general store that served as a trading post for Seminole and Miccosukee people of the Big Cypress as well as local families.

    Source

    1. Roberts Ranch, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, National Park Service (accessed 2026-11-09)

Sources

  1. Roberts Ranch, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, National Park Service (accessed 2026-11-09)
  2. Roberts Ranch, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, National Park Service (accessed 2026-11-09)
Correct this era: Rails, Ranches and a New County

Era 4 · 1941–1959

Bomber Base and Farmers Market

During World War II the airfield outside town trained bomber crews. In 1951 the State Farmers Market opened in Immokalee, a sign of the farming economy that would define the town.

Image shown for this era: The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad depot at Immokalee around 1950. 1950 · State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory (floridamemory.com/items/show/4230), via Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Source

Key moments

  1. State Farmers Market opens

    The State Farmers Market opened in Immokalee.

    Source

    1. Collier County Centennial: History, Collier County (official centennial history site) (accessed 2026-11-09)

  2. First Farm City Barbecue

    Immokalee held its first Farm City Barbecue.

    Source

    1. Collier County Centennial: History, Collier County (official centennial history site) (accessed 2026-11-09)

Sources

  1. Immokalee Regional Airport, Collier County Airport Authority (accessed 2026-11-09)
  2. Collier County Centennial: History, Collier County (official centennial history site) (accessed 2026-11-09)
Correct this era: Bomber Base and Farmers Market

Era 5 · 1960–1992

Fields of Hope

By the 1960s Immokalee's farms were booming, and Mexican, Haitian, Guatemalan and other Latin American and Caribbean immigrants came to work the fields. Residents twice voted against becoming a city.

Image shown for this era: 1973 photorevised USGS topographic map of Immokalee, showing the town's street grid where the highways and railroad meet, the airport northeast of town, Lake Trafford to the west, and the surrounding fields and wetlands; purple overprint marks growth since 1958.. 1973 · U.S. Geological Survey, Immokalee, Fla. 7.5-minute quadrangle (1958, photorevised 1973), via Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Source

Key moments

  1. Voters reject incorporation again

    For the second time in twenty years, Immokalee voters turned down becoming a city, by almost two to one.

    Source

    1. Collier County Centennial: History, Collier County (official centennial history site) (accessed 2026-11-09)

Sources

  1. Collier County Centennial: History, Collier County (official centennial history site) (accessed 2026-11-09)
  2. Collier County Centennial: History, Collier County (official centennial history site) (accessed 2026-11-09)
Correct this era: Fields of Hope

Era 6 · 1993–2010

Workers Organize, the Airfield Revives

In 1993 farmworkers began meeting weekly in a borrowed church room, forming the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. The same year the new Collier County Airport Authority began planning to turn the long-dormant airfield into an industrial park.

Image shown for this era: The white two-story Roberts family ranch house with a green metal roof, now part of the Immokalee Pioneer Museum, in 2010. 2010 · Ebyabe, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA · Source

Key moments

  1. Airport Authority plans the old airfield's revival

    The newly created Collier County Airport Authority drew up plans for runways, cargo business and an industrial park at the airfield, which had sat dormant for about thirty years.

    Source

    1. Immokalee Regional Airport, Collier County Airport Authority (accessed 2026-11-09)

  2. Coalition of Immokalee Workers begins organizing

    A small group of farmworkers began meeting weekly in a room borrowed from a local church to improve their community and working lives.

    Source

    1. About CIW, Coalition of Immokalee Workers (accessed 2026-11-09)

  3. Roberts Ranch core goes to Collier County

    The family sold the central parcels of the ranch to Collier County in 1996 and 1999 for historic interpretation; the site is now the Immokalee Pioneer Museum at Roberts Ranch.

    Source

    1. Roberts Ranch, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, National Park Service (accessed 2026-11-09)

Sources

  1. About CIW, Coalition of Immokalee Workers (accessed 2026-11-09)
  2. Immokalee Regional Airport, Collier County Airport Authority (accessed 2026-11-09)
Correct this era: Workers Organize, the Airfield Revives

Era 7 · 2011–2026

Immokalee Today

Still unincorporated, Immokalee is the center of Southwest Florida's farm economy, growing tomatoes, watermelon, peppers, cucumbers, potatoes and citrus. The Fair Food Program, launched by local farmworkers in 2011, carries Immokalee's name nationwide.

Image shown for this era: The First Street Zocalo plaza in downtown Immokalee, with its name set in stone, a row of cabbage palms and yellow walls under a blue sky, 2018. 2018 · Declan M Martin, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Source

Key moments

  1. Fair Food Program launched

    The Coalition of Immokalee Workers launched the Fair Food Program, a worker-driven model for farm labor standards.

    Source

    1. About CIW, Coalition of Immokalee Workers (accessed 2026-11-09)

  2. Edgerrin James enters the Hall of Fame

    Immokalee native and NFL running back Edgerrin James was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

    Source

    1. Collier County Centennial: History, Collier County (official centennial history site) (accessed 2026-11-09)

Sources

  1. Collier County Centennial: History, Collier County (official centennial history site) (accessed 2026-11-09)
  2. About CIW, Coalition of Immokalee Workers (accessed 2026-11-09)
Correct this era: Immokalee Today

Then & Now

Immokalee, 1873 to 2026

William Allen settles at Gopher Ridge · drag to compare

Josie Billie and Frank Brown standing together at Immokalee in 1908; Josie's hat, vest and tie came from Brown's Store
The First Street Zocalo plaza in downtown Immokalee, with its name set in stone, a row of cabbage palms and yellow walls under a blue sky, 2018
18732026

Then image1908 · State Library and Archives of Florida, Florida Memory (call number RC07720), via Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Source

Now image2018 · Declan M Martin, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Source

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This timeline is compiled from the public records cited on each era and event. Every quote is checked against its source automatically, and items marked Reviewed have also been checked by a person. Images are public domain or openly licensed, each with its credit. If you know something we’ve missed or got wrong, or you hold records of your own, we’d like to hear from you.

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