Estero is a
census-designated placeA census-designated place is a type of place identified by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes. CDPs are delineated for each decennial census as the statistical counterparts of incorporated places such as cities, towns and villages...
(CDP) in
Lee CountyLee County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida. The county makes up the entirety of the Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area, and is the most populous county in Southwest Florida....
,
FloridaFlorida is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the north. It was the 27th state admitted to the United States...
,
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. As of the
2000 censusThe Twenty-Second United States Census, known as Census 2000 and conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2% over the 248,709,873 persons enumerated during the 1990 Census...
, the CDP population was 9,503. It is the home of
Germain ArenaGermain Arena is a 7,128-seat multi-purpose arena in Estero, Florida, United States.The arena was first named Everblades Arena in 1998 after the hockey team that played there. TECO Energy was the first company to obtain the naming rights to the building, changing the name to TECO Arena. In 2004,...
, which hosts the home games for the
Florida EverbladesThe Florida Everblades are an ECHL ice hockey team playing in the Southeast Division. The team is based in Estero, Florida and plays at Germain Arena . The team has existed since 1998...
ECHLThe ECHL is a mid-level professional ice hockey league based in Princeton, New Jersey, with teams scattered across the United States and Canada, generally regarded as a tier below the American Hockey League...
hockeyIce Hockey is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use sticks to direct a puck into the opposing team's goal. It is a fast-paced and physical sport...
team and the
Florida FirecatsThe Florida Firecats are a professional arena football team. They are a 2001 expansion member of the af2. They play their home games at Germain Arena in Estero, Florida, which is halfway between Naples, Florida and Fort Myers, Florida.-Season-by-season:|-...
af2AF2 was the name of the Arena Football League's developmental league; it was founded in 1999 and played its first season in 2000. Like parent AFL, the AF2 played using the same arena football rules and style of play. League seasons ran from April through July with the postseason and ArenaCup...
arena footballArena football is a sport based upon American football. It is a proprietary game played indoors on a smaller field than American football, resulting in a faster and higher-scoring game. The sport was invented in 1986, and patented in 1990, by James F. Foster, a former executive of the United States...
team.
Florida Gulf Coast UniversityFlorida Gulf Coast University, also known as FGCU, is a coeducational public university located in Estero near Fort Myers, Florida which promotes environmental sustainability...
is also located just outside of the Estero Planning District.
Estero is part of the
Cape CoralCape Coral is a city in Lee County, Florida, United States. With over of navigable waterways, Cape Coral has more miles of canals than any other city on earth. According to estimates as of 2009, the city had a population of 167,917, making it the largest city in Southwest Florida...
–
Fort MyersFort Myers is the county seat and commercial center of Lee County, Florida, United States. Its population was 48,208 in the 2000 census. According to 2008 estimates, the population is 68,689....
Metropolitan Statistical AreaThe Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area is a Metropolitan Statistical Area consisting of Lee County in the state of Florida in the USA. The principal cities in the MSA are Cape Coral and Fort Myers. In 2008 the population of the MSA was more than 640,000. The Fort Myers,...
.
Estero is located at (26.432237, -81.809447).
According to the
United States Census BureauThe United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data. As part of the United States Department of Commerce, the Census Bureau serves as the leading source of quality data about...
, the CDP has a total area of 21.1 square miles (54.7 km²), of which, 21.1 square miles (54.6 km²) of it is land and 0.1 square miles (0.1 km²) of it (0.24%) is water.
Historically and culturally, the heart of Estero is the spring-fed Estero River, which flows to
Estero BayEstero Bay, Florida, is an estuary located on the west coast of the state southeast of Fort Myers Beach. The bay, an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico, is long and very shallow, and covers about . Estero Bay is bordered on the west by a chain of barrier islands: Estero Island, Long Key, Lovers Key,...
.
Estero is a
census-designated placeA census-designated place is a type of place identified by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes. CDPs are delineated for each decennial census as the statistical counterparts of incorporated places such as cities, towns and villages...
(CDP) in
Lee CountyLee County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida. The county makes up the entirety of the Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area, and is the most populous county in Southwest Florida....
,
FloridaFlorida is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the north. It was the 27th state admitted to the United States...
,
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. As of the
2000 censusThe Twenty-Second United States Census, known as Census 2000 and conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2% over the 248,709,873 persons enumerated during the 1990 Census...
, the CDP population was 9,503. It is the home of
Germain ArenaGermain Arena is a 7,128-seat multi-purpose arena in Estero, Florida, United States.The arena was first named Everblades Arena in 1998 after the hockey team that played there. TECO Energy was the first company to obtain the naming rights to the building, changing the name to TECO Arena. In 2004,...
, which hosts the home games for the
Florida EverbladesThe Florida Everblades are an ECHL ice hockey team playing in the Southeast Division. The team is based in Estero, Florida and plays at Germain Arena . The team has existed since 1998...
ECHLThe ECHL is a mid-level professional ice hockey league based in Princeton, New Jersey, with teams scattered across the United States and Canada, generally regarded as a tier below the American Hockey League...
hockeyIce Hockey is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use sticks to direct a puck into the opposing team's goal. It is a fast-paced and physical sport...
team and the
Florida FirecatsThe Florida Firecats are a professional arena football team. They are a 2001 expansion member of the af2. They play their home games at Germain Arena in Estero, Florida, which is halfway between Naples, Florida and Fort Myers, Florida.-Season-by-season:|-...
af2AF2 was the name of the Arena Football League's developmental league; it was founded in 1999 and played its first season in 2000. Like parent AFL, the AF2 played using the same arena football rules and style of play. League seasons ran from April through July with the postseason and ArenaCup...
arena footballArena football is a sport based upon American football. It is a proprietary game played indoors on a smaller field than American football, resulting in a faster and higher-scoring game. The sport was invented in 1986, and patented in 1990, by James F. Foster, a former executive of the United States...
team.
Florida Gulf Coast UniversityFlorida Gulf Coast University, also known as FGCU, is a coeducational public university located in Estero near Fort Myers, Florida which promotes environmental sustainability...
is also located just outside of the Estero Planning District.
Estero is part of the
Cape CoralCape Coral is a city in Lee County, Florida, United States. With over of navigable waterways, Cape Coral has more miles of canals than any other city on earth. According to estimates as of 2009, the city had a population of 167,917, making it the largest city in Southwest Florida...
–
Fort MyersFort Myers is the county seat and commercial center of Lee County, Florida, United States. Its population was 48,208 in the 2000 census. According to 2008 estimates, the population is 68,689....
Metropolitan Statistical AreaThe Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area is a Metropolitan Statistical Area consisting of Lee County in the state of Florida in the USA. The principal cities in the MSA are Cape Coral and Fort Myers. In 2008 the population of the MSA was more than 640,000. The Fort Myers,...
.
Geography
Estero is located at (26.432237, -81.809447).
According to the
United States Census BureauThe United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data. As part of the United States Department of Commerce, the Census Bureau serves as the leading source of quality data about...
, the CDP has a total area of 21.1 square miles (54.7 km²), of which, 21.1 square miles (54.6 km²) of it is land and 0.1 square miles (0.1 km²) of it (0.24%) is water.
Historically and culturally, the heart of Estero is the spring-fed Estero River, which flows to
Estero BayEstero Bay, Florida, is an estuary located on the west coast of the state southeast of Fort Myers Beach. The bay, an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico, is long and very shallow, and covers about . Estero Bay is bordered on the west by a chain of barrier islands: Estero Island, Long Key, Lovers Key,...
. Some of the earliest European settlers of the area (notably the Alvarez, Fernandez, Johnson, and Soto families) were fishing families that lived on
Mound KeyMound Key Archeological State Park is a Florida State Park, located in Estero Bay, near the mouth of the Caloosahatchee River. One hundred and thirteen of the island's one hundred and twenty-five acres are managed by the park system....
, a
mangroveMangroves are trees and shrubs that grow in saline coastal habitats in the tropics and subtropics – mainly between latitudes N and S. The saline conditions tolerated by various species range from brackish water, through pure seawater , to water of over twice the salinity of ocean seawater,...
-ringed island that dominates Estero Bay. During the early 20th century, these families moved upriver to the settlement which came to be known as Estero. Estero is also the location of a utopian community called the
Koreshan UnityThe Koreshan Unity was a communal utopia formed by Cyrus Teed, who took the name "Koresh", the Hebrew version of his name Cyrus . The Koreshans followed Teed's beliefs, called Koreshanity....
, which is now preserved as the
Koreshan State Historic SiteThe Koreshan State Historic Site is a state park in Lee County, Florida located on U.S. Highway 41 at Corkscrew Road. It was also added to the National Register of Historic Places...
. Until the 1970s, most settlement and development in Estero was near the river.
The only governing body exclusive to the community of Estero is the fire department. The fire department was created in 1964 and petitioned the State of Florida for Special District classification in 1976 (Florida State Statute 76-408). The boundaries of the Estero Fire Department are typically referred to as Estero. The borders of Estero include Estero Bay to the west, the city of Bonita Springs to the south, San Carlos Park to the north and Collier County to the east.
Demographics
As of the
censusA "census" is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population.In other words every 10 years...next one would be in 2010 The term is used mostly in connection with...
of 2000, there were 9,503 people, 4,608 households, and 3,336 families residing in the CDP. The
population densityPopulation density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans. It is a key term used in geography....
was 450.7 people per square mile (174.1/km²). There were 7,345 housing units at an average density of 348.4/sq mi (134.5/km²). The racial makeup of the CDP was 97.43% White, 0.64% African American, 0.11% Native American, 0.35% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.77% from
other racesRace and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the United States Census Bureau and the Federal Office of Management and Budget , are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, and 0.69% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.19% of the population.
There were 4,608 households out of which 10.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 68.2% were
married couplesMarriage is a social union or legal contract between individuals that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged by a variety of ways, depending on the culture or demographic...
living together, 2.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.6% were non-families. 23.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.01 and the average family size was 2.31.
In the CDP the population was spread out with 9.2% under the age of 18, 4.9% from 18 to 24, 14.1% from 25 to 44, 31.1% from 45 to 64, and 40.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 61 years. For every 100 females there were 93.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.6 males.
The median income for a household in the CDP was $43,734, and the median income for a family was $51,227. Males had a median income of $38,886 versus $27,883 for females. The
per capita incomePer capita income means how much each individual receives, in monetary terms, of the yearly income generated in the country. This is what each citizen is to receive if the yearly national income is divided equally among everyone. Per capita income is usually reported in units of currency per year...
for the CDP was $30,521. About 1.9% of families and 3.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 1.1% of those under age 18 and 3.2% of those age 65 or over.
Public Safety
Estero's fire protection is provided by Estero Fire Rescue. Founded in 1964, Estero Fire Rescue operates 4 fire stations and one administrative complex. In addition to fire protection, Estero Fire Rescue provides emergency medical services consisting of Advanced Life Support (ALS), vehicle extrication, hazardous materials mitigation, fire prevention and public education. Daily staffing includes members of Florida Task Force 6, a regional Urban Search and Rescue Team (USAR) capable of providing technical rescue for structural collapse, trench, high-angle rope, swift water/flood and confined space rescue.
Apparatus include 1 battalion chief, 2 engine companies, 2 ladder comapnies, 1 truck company, 1 rescue unit, 3 brush trucks, 1 water tanker and 1 air and light unit. 5 apparatus are staffed around the clock with 17 firefighters. All staffed apparatus are equipped with Advanced Life Support (ALS) equipment and paramedics which provide quick emergency care.
Estero Fire Rescue is a State of Florida Independent Special District and is governed by a five member commission board. The Board of Fire Commissioners (BOFC) oversee the organization by setting policy and establishing an operating budget by collecting taxes based on property value assessments. In addition the BOFC is responsible for hiring a Fire Chief to manage the daily operations of the organization.
History
Estero was established and incorporated by the followers of
Dr. Cyrus Reed TeedCyrus Reed Teed was a U.S. eclectic physician and alchemist turned religious leader and messiah. In 1869, claiming divine inspiration, Dr...
, who proposed a theory of that we 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 UnityThe Koreshan Unity was a communal utopia formed by Cyrus Teed, who took the name "Koresh", the Hebrew version of his name Cyrus . The Koreshans followed Teed's beliefs, called Koreshanity....
, drew followers to purchase and occupy a tract in 1894. They were business-oriented and lived communally, prospering enough to found its own political party ("The Progressive Liberty Party") and incorporate the town in 1904 as Estero. The 1908 death of Dr. 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. The Koreshans' original tract is now owned by Florida as the
Koreshan State Historic SiteThe Koreshan State Historic Site is a state park in Lee County, Florida located on U.S. Highway 41 at Corkscrew Road. It was also added to the National Register of Historic Places...
.
External links
Cultural Attractions