Page 18 - LIN February-2023_web-version

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There’s No Place Like Home
Ther

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ything.
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If you don’t know histor
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“ “ If you don’t know history, then you don’t know anything.
You are a leaf that doesn’t know it is part of a tree. ” ”
Y
ou are a leaf that doesn’t know it is part of a tree.
by Lois Bolin, Ph.D., Old Naples Historian

n the last scene of the MGM film The website, marketing materials, signage, merchandise, and even create
Wizard of Oz, Dorothy Gale wakes up in their own special event which can be placed on their Centennial
Iher bed to find herself surrounded by her calendar. (For more details go to Collier100.com.)
family. She looks around to see the faces of One organization has already stepped up to the challenge,
the people she loves and says, “there's no place our Collier County Sheriff’s Office. Check out their webpage
like home”. Melissa Holbrook in, The Place on colliersheriff.org/centennial or follow them on Facebook,
You Love is Gone: Progress Hits Home, touches Instagram, or Twitter.
the heart for anyone who has ridden around 100 Years of Safety and Service
their childhood neighborhoods and knew Just as the Wild West sparked a need for powerful and unique
each house, tree, corner store or roads and hills personalities to control crime — think Wild Bill Hickok, Wyatt
which form the memories of place – memories of home. Earp, Bat Masterson — so too did Southwest Florida. But it wasn’t
So, how do new residents connect to their “new home” - a place until 1923, when Collier County was formed, that our unique
where they don’t know about vanishing landscapes or the people personalities came forth in an official capacity.
who created the magic in this place, we call home? One way is Collier County has had seven sheriffs, beginning with
through learning local history. Capt. W.R. Maynard, who was sworn to duty in 1923.
Mission Possible Louis J. Thorp, noted for his bullwhip expertise, became our second
“Good morning. Your mission, should you decide to accept it, sheriff when Sheriff Maynard resigned in 1928. Sheriff Thorp
is to learn about the local history of your new home. As always, served until his death in 1954 and Chief Roy Atkins was appointed
should you or any member of your family be caught enjoying one to fill the spot until E.A Doug Hendry was elected in 1956.
of Collier’s five history museums, Palm Cottage, or the Holocaust During Sheriff Thorp’s time, the Southwest Mounted Police
Museum & Cohen Education Center, I will not disavow was created after the completion of the Tamiami Trail. Their job
knowledge of your actions. This magazine will not self-destruct was to secure the area from Everglades City to Miami on their
and will hopefully be on your coffee table for a long time.” (Cue Harley Davidsons. We now refer to them as Collier County
Mission Impossible music.) sheriff’s deputies.
Countdown to May 8 Sheriff Hendry hired a young man to work in the Everglades
When Florida was established in 1845, Collier County was jail. The sheriff had known Aubrey Rogers from years spent at
part of Monroe County, and by 1887, it became part of the newly the Fort Myers Police Department. Mr. Rogers soon earned the
formed Lee County. Barron G. Collier took a keen interest in sheriff’s trust and became his chief deputy. He replaced Sheriff
Florida’s ‘final frontier’ and its impending Tamiami Trail, and by Hendry when the sheriff resigned due to family matters.
early 1923, he had accumulated over one million acres of land in Sheriff Rogers served until his retirement in 1989 and was
south Lee. When Lee County ran out of funds to complete their succeeded by Sheriff Don Hunter, who served from 1988-2008.
portion of the Trail, Mr. Collier offered to fund the construction Our current sheriff, Kevin J. Rambosk, was elected in August 2008.
which was to run through the swamps of the Everglades in The Legacy Continues
exchange for a new county to be formed and named in his honor. In September 2022, Collier County School District's new
On May 8, 1923, Collier County was officially partitioned high school in North Naples was named Aubrey Rogers High
from Lee County by the Florida State Legislature. School after former Collier County Sheriff Aubrey Rogers, who
th
Collier County will be celebrating its 100 anniversary established the office's Youth Relations Program in 1977. The
throughout 2023 with programs and events observing this program introduced the concept of putting deputies in schools.
historic milestone. The Commissioners invite all organizations to The school's mascot is the Patriots, which aligns with Rogers'
participate by displaying the Collier Centennial Emblem on their service in the United States Army.

18 Life in Naples | February 2023