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Lehigh Acres,through time.

5 eras · 1954–2026 · every fact sourced · compiled from the sources shown, not yet reviewed by a historian

Start in 1954
Populationfrom 1990

—

Lots by mail

1954–1968: Lots by mail

Era 1 · 1954–1968

Lots by mail

Ratner and Gould sold half-acre lots across a grid stamped over the old ranch, mostly to northern buyers who had never seen them. By 1960 about 500 families lived in Lehigh, and through the 1960s its population grew tenfold.

Image shown for this era: 1958 USGS topographic map of the ranch and prairie land southeast of Fort Myers, with the newly laid-out streets of Lehigh Acres labeled in the northeast corner, State Road 82 crossing diagonally, and Halfway Pond.. 1958 · U.S. Geological Survey, Alva SW, Fla. 7.5-minute quadrangle (1958), via Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Source

Key moments

  1. Lehigh Acres is born on Lee Ratner's ranch

    Lee Ratner and ad man Gerald Gould turned Ratner's Lucky Lee Ranch east of Fort Myers into half-acre lots sold by mail for $10 down and $10 a month. The Tampa Bay Times dates the start to 1954.

    Source

    1. Lehigh Acres: Florida's lesson in unregulated growth (Tampa Bay Times, Aug. 8, 2009; reprint), Tampa Bay Times (hosted by Spikowski Planning Associates) (accessed 2026-11-09)

  2. Water control district created

    The East County Water Control District, which drained and later managed water across Lehigh Acres, was created in Lee County by judicial decree.

    Source

    1. House of Representatives staff analysis, HB 1183 (2012), East County Water Control District, Florida House of Representatives (accessed 2026-11-09)

  3. About 500 families live in Lehigh

    Six years after the first lots were sold, about 500 families were living in Lehigh, and Gould moved there from Miami to run the young community.

    Source

    1. Lehigh Acres: Florida's lesson in unregulated growth (Tampa Bay Times, Aug. 8, 2009; reprint), Tampa Bay Times (hosted by Spikowski Planning Associates) (accessed 2026-11-09)
2 more from this era

  1. Volunteer fire district founded

    The Lehigh Acres fire district began with volunteers and a single fire engine parked under a canopy on Homestead Road.

    Source

    1. Lehigh Acres Fire Rescue company profile, Florida Fire Chiefs' Association (accessed 2026-11-09)

  2. Lehigh's hospital opens

    The hospital now known as HCA Florida Lehigh Hospital was built and began serving Lehigh Acres.

    Source

    1. Our history: HCA Florida Lehigh Hospital, HCA Florida Healthcare (accessed 2026-11-09)

Sources

  1. Lehigh Acres: Florida's lesson in unregulated growth (Tampa Bay Times, Aug. 8, 2009; reprint), Tampa Bay Times (hosted by Spikowski Planning Associates) (accessed 2026-11-09)
  2. Lehigh Acres: Florida's lesson in unregulated growth (Tampa Bay Times, Aug. 8, 2009; reprint), Tampa Bay Times (hosted by Spikowski Planning Associates) (accessed 2026-11-09)
Correct this era: Lots by mail

Era 2 · 1969–1989

After the founders

In 1969 the founding partners sold the company in an all-stock deal, and Gould left Lehigh in 1972. The hospital expanded in 1971 and again in 1983, and in the 1980s the water control district began stormwater projects such as Harns Marsh.

Image shown for this era: 1987 photorevised USGS topographic map of the area southeast of Fort Myers, with purple overprint showing how the Lehigh Acres street grid and other development had spread across the former ranch land since 1958.. 1987 · U.S. Geological Survey, Alva SW, Fla. 7.5-minute quadrangle (1958, photorevised 1987), via Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Source

Key moments

  1. Founders sell the company

    Ratner, Gould and their partners sold the development company to Scientific Resources Corp. in an all-stock deal; the buyer went bust two years later.

    Source

    1. Lehigh Acres: Florida's lesson in unregulated growth (Tampa Bay Times, Aug. 8, 2009; reprint), Tampa Bay Times (hosted by Spikowski Planning Associates) (accessed 2026-11-09)

  2. Gerald Gould leaves Lehigh

    Gould, the co-founder who had run the community from a company-owned home, left Lehigh in 1972.

    Source

    1. Lehigh Acres: Florida's lesson in unregulated growth (Tampa Bay Times, Aug. 8, 2009; reprint), Tampa Bay Times (hosted by Spikowski Planning Associates) (accessed 2026-11-09)

  3. Paramedics join the fire district

    The fire district added paramedic (advanced life support) service and took the name Lehigh Acres Fire Control and Rescue District.

    Source

    1. Lehigh Acres Fire Rescue company profile, Florida Fire Chiefs' Association (accessed 2026-11-09)

Sources

  1. Lehigh Acres: Florida's lesson in unregulated growth (Tampa Bay Times, Aug. 8, 2009; reprint), Tampa Bay Times (hosted by Spikowski Planning Associates) (accessed 2026-11-09)
  2. Our history: HCA Florida Lehigh Hospital, HCA Florida Healthcare (accessed 2026-11-09)
  3. ECWCD speaker series examines history, Lehigh Acres Citizen (accessed 2026-11-09)
Correct this era: After the founders

Era 3 · 1990–1999

A growing community weighs cityhood

The 1990 census counted 13,611 people in the Lehigh Acres CDP. In 1995 the land that let Veterans Park grow became available, and in 1996 voters rejected a proposed municipal incorporation.

Key moments

  1. Room for Veterans Park to grow

    The only unplatted tract next to landlocked Veterans Park became available, and a county study of how to expand the park followed in 1996.

    Source

    1. Lehigh Acres Veterans Park, Spikowski Planning Associates (accessed 2026-11-09)

  2. Voters turn down cityhood

    Lehigh Acres voters rejected a proposed municipal incorporation, as they would again in 2008.

    Source

    1. House of Representatives staff analysis, HB 1255 (2015), Lehigh Acres Municipal Services Improvement District, Florida House of Representatives (accessed 2026-11-09)

Sources

  1. 1990 Census of Population and Housing: Population and Housing Unit Counts, Florida (CPH-2-11), U.S. Census Bureau (accessed 2026-11-09)
  2. House of Representatives staff analysis, HB 1255 (2015), Lehigh Acres Municipal Services Improvement District, Florida House of Representatives (accessed 2026-11-09)
Correct this era: A growing community weighs cityhood

Era 4 · 2000–2010

Boom and foreclosure

Lehigh Acres grew faster in the 2000s than ever before, shifting from a retirement community toward young families. The housing bust followed: in 2008 about 12 percent of properties in the Cape Coral-Fort Myers area, including Lehigh Acres, received a foreclosure filing.

Image shown for this era: Three state emergency response team members in navy shirts walk up the front path of a tan stucco house with arched windows in Lehigh Acres, September 2008. 2008 · George Armstrong / FEMA, via Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Source

Key moments

  1. Hospital renamed Lehigh Regional Medical Center

    The hospital took the name Lehigh Regional Medical Center to reflect its role across eastern Lee County and Hendry County.

    Source

    1. Our history: HCA Florida Lehigh Hospital, HCA Florida Healthcare (accessed 2026-11-09)

  2. Foreclosures peak

    The Cape Coral-Fort Myers metro area, which includes Lehigh Acres, topped RealtyTrac's foreclosure list for 2008; about 12 percent of properties in the area received a foreclosure filing that year.

    Source

    1. Foreclosure epidemic changes market strategy, Lehigh Acres Citizen (accessed 2026-11-09)

  3. Second cityhood vote fails

    In a non-binding referendum, 58 percent of Lehigh Acres voters chose not to become a city.

    Source

    1. Lehigh Acres again eyes changing from unincorporated status to city, WGCU Public Media (accessed 2026-11-09)

Sources

  1. ECWCD speaker series examines history, Lehigh Acres Citizen (accessed 2026-11-09)
  2. Foreclosure epidemic changes market strategy, Lehigh Acres Citizen (accessed 2026-11-09)
Correct this era: Boom and foreclosure

Era 5 · 2011–2026

A services district and a new push for cityhood

In 2015 the Legislature replaced the old water control district with the Lehigh Acres Municipal Services Improvement District. Hurricane Irma dropped up to 17 1/2 inches of rain on the district in 2017, and in 2023 a group called Unite Lehigh began another effort to make Lehigh a city.

Image shown for this era: Late-afternoon aerial view of Lehigh Acres: a grid of streets lined with single-family homes and many still-empty wooded lots, with Gunnery Road running diagonally across the lower right. 2014 · formulanone, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA · Source

Key moments

  1. Municipal services district created

    A new state law created the Lehigh Acres Municipal Services Improvement District and dissolved the East County Water Control District, moving its property and duties to the new district.

    Source

    1. House of Representatives staff analysis, HB 1255 (2015), Lehigh Acres Municipal Services Improvement District, Florida House of Representatives (accessed 2026-11-09)

  2. Hurricane Irma floods the district

    Irma made landfall on 10 September 2017 and dropped up to 17 1/2 inches of rain on parts of the Lehigh Acres district, along with heavy wind damage.

    Source

    1. Post Irma Report, Lehigh Acres Municipal Services Improvement District (accessed 2026-11-09)

  3. Unite Lehigh revives the cityhood push

    A citizens' group, Unite Lehigh, began raising $55,000 for a feasibility study as the first step toward incorporating Lehigh Acres.

    Source

    1. Lehigh Acres again eyes changing from unincorporated status to city, WGCU Public Media (accessed 2026-11-09)

Sources

  1. House of Representatives staff analysis, HB 1255 (2015), Lehigh Acres Municipal Services Improvement District, Florida House of Representatives (accessed 2026-11-09)
  2. Post Irma Report, Lehigh Acres Municipal Services Improvement District (accessed 2026-11-09)
  3. Lehigh Acres again eyes changing from unincorporated status to city, WGCU Public Media (accessed 2026-11-09)
Correct this era: A services district and a new push for cityhood

Then & Now

Lehigh Acres, 1954 to 2026

Lehigh Acres is born on Lee Ratner's ranch · drag to compare

1958 USGS topographic map of the ranch and prairie land southeast of Fort Myers, with the newly laid-out streets of Lehigh Acres labeled in the northeast corner, State Road 82 crossing diagonally, and Halfway Pond.
Late-afternoon aerial view of Lehigh Acres: a grid of streets lined with single-family homes and many still-empty wooded lots, with Gunnery Road running diagonally across the lower right
19542026

Then image1958 · U.S. Geological Survey, Alva SW, Fla. 7.5-minute quadrangle (1958), via Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Source

Now image2014 · formulanone, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA · Source

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