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Untold Stories

The sunshine state has a rich and colorful history. For hundreds of years the state has attracted dreamers, opportunists, inventors and fortune-seekers. Native Americans, the Spanish, and American settlers all have left their mark on Southwest Florida. Yet, unlike world or national history, local history is a fragile thing that is easily lost. WGCU’s Untold Stories aims to preserve the history of Southwest Florida communities. The series explores the legacy of the many cultures that have left their imprint on the region and tells the stories of the people who call this part of Florida their home.

List Of Shows

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A Watery Wilderness

May. 30, 2008

A WATERY WILDERNESS: THE TEN THOUSAND ISLANDS A maze of mangrove islands meanders from Marco Island to Florida Bay, an ever-changing tangle of trees and shallows that inspired a larger-than-life name -- the Ten Thousand Islands. In this watery wilderness, hardy pioneers scratched out a living on high heaps of shells left by Calusa Indians. In 1947, most of Florida's final frontier became part of the new Everglades National Park.

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The Wizard's Laboratory

Mar. 28, 2008

THE WIZARD'S LABORATORY: EDISON'S QUEST FOR RUBBER In 1927, Thomas Edison, the "wizard" of electricity, began searching for a domestic source of rubber to protect Americans from foreign control of this vital commodity. The eighty-year-old inventor experimented with thousands of plants on his Fort Myers estate, eventually selecting goldenrod as the most promising source of rubber. Edison died in 1931, but his research continued until the development of synthetic rubber.

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Marco Island

Jan. 25, 2008

ISLAND IN THE SUN Calusa Indians, cracker pioneers and condo dwellers have all made their mark on Marco Island. The Calusa left behind shell mounds--and much more. By the 1960s, most of the pioneer outpost was owned by the Deltona Corporation, which began dredging canals for waterfront homesites--until environmentalists sued in a case that went all the way to the Supreme Court.

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Barnstormers to Blue Angels

Nov. 30, 2007

Southwest Florida has had so many flying "firsts" that even Orville and Wilbur Wright are tied to the area's aviation history. Primitive seaplanes, vacationing industrialists, barnstormers, land sale schemes and a famous chicken named Roscoe are all part of Southwest Florida's colorful aviation history.

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Pine Island

Oct. 26, 2007

You could almost call Pine Island the “anti-Florida.” No crowded beaches. No high rise condos. No fancy resorts. No sprawling subdivisions. But to those who live there, it represents all that Florida used to be. It’s more than just an island; it’s a way of life, much as it's been since the first white settler put down roots in 1873.

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The Sanibel Causeway

Oct. 18, 2007

Since its opening in 1963, the 3-mile-long Sanibel Causeway has linked the mainland to Sanibel and Captiva Islands. Notable islanders, including world-renown artist Robert Rauschenberg and Sanibel’s first mayor, Porter Goss, reflect on how it has affected the island way of life.

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Fish Fever

Sep. 28, 2007

In 1885, the first tarpon ever taken on a rod and reel was caught near Punta Rassa – a fishing feat that revolutionized sport fishing and lured hundreds of eager anglers to Southwest Florida in search of the “silver king.” Tarpon reigned supreme, but other sports species abounded. A century later, anglers and commercial fishermen were battling over the dwindling bounty of the Gulf.

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Historic Preservation

Aug. 31, 2007

Centuries from now, when curious historians and archeologists sift through the rubble of our times, in search of clues about who were and how we lived, they’ll look at the homes that sheltered us, the factories that employed us, the schools we attended and the stores where we shopped -- if they’re still standing. All too often, these stone and wood and steel paeans to Southwest Florida’s past are razed like sacrifices to some pagan god of the future. New structures rise, only to be themselves ultimately condemned as obsolete -- and reduced to rubble.

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Collier County: Florida’s Final Frontier

May. 25, 2007

Today, Collier County is one of the fastest growing areas in the country. In 1923, when the county was formed, it was little more than a remote, tropical wilderness with no electricity, no phones nor a single mile of paved road. At the time, fewer than 1200 people lived in a handful of settlements scattered across an area the size of Delaware.

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Coming of Age

Apr. 27, 2007

In the 1940s, Naples was little more than a bend in the road, a one stop-light town in the boondocks and barely on the map. Thirty years later, the backwater was a boomtown, and Naples was reputed to have more golf courses -- and millionaires -- per capita, than any other city in America.

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“Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge

Mar. 23, 2007

His pencil and sketchpad earned him two Pulitzer Prizes. Theodore Roosevelt was his idol, mentor and friend. He was a pioneer in the American conservation movement, and helped prevent rampant development from gobbling up Sanibel Island. And each time a flock of seabirds takes flight above the wildlife refuge that bears his name, the legacy of Jay Norwood “Ding” Darling is sketched in bold strokes across the southern sky.

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Summerland in Wintertime

Feb. 23, 2007

Summerland in Wintertime: Naples In 1885, two friends from Kentucky “discovered” a pristine paradise 40 miles south of Fort Myers and decided to build a winter resort — Naples. Accessible only by boat, however, the remote resort languished until the 1920s, when trains and the Tamiami Trail finally opened the “Summerland in Wintertime” to development. By 1945, the backwater was becoming a boom town.

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Illuminating Tradition: Edison Festival of Light

Jan. 26, 2007

The Edison Festival of Light is an extraordinary blend of entertainment, pageantry, innovation and tradition that has drawn crowds to downtown Fort Myers since 1938. Revel “behind the lights” of the annual event’s colorful history.

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The Fisherfolk of Southwest Florida

Dec. 22, 2006

For more than 6,000 years, Southwest Florida's rich estuaries have been fished for food. In this first of a three-part series, historians and long-time commercial fishermen tell the story of Southwest Florida's "fisherfolk," from the ancient Calusas, who left a legacy of shell mounds--and more--to the rise and fall of mullet fishing. From shrimp trawlers, to clam dredges, to stone crab trapping, "fisherfolk" represent one of the most colorful and vital aspects of regional history.

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Everglades City & Chokoloskee

Nov. 24, 2006

In the late 19th century, the first white settlers arrived in the remote Ten Thousand Islands near the edge of the Everglades. In the 1920s, streetcar-advertising magnate Barron Gift Collier became the region's largest landowner. He transformed the settlement of "Everglade" into a booming company town to build the final stretch of the Tamiami Trail.

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Barron Gift Collier

Oct. 27, 2006

Born into genteel poverty in Memphis, Tennessee, Barron Gift Collier set off at a young age to become a powerful force in the advertising business. By the time he was 26, he had made his first million. Eventually, Collier would become Florida’s largest landowner--bringing civilization to Southwest Florida’s wild frontier.

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History of Florida’s Cattle Industry

Sep. 22, 2006

Long before Florida was famous for its oranges, beaches and tourist industry, there was the cattle trade. North America's first cattle were introduced in Florida in 1521. Over the years, the state's cattle industry thrived through numerous wars, The Great Depression, insect invasions, hurricanes and land development. This is the story of the people and places that made it possible.

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A Wing and A Prayer

Aug. 25, 2006

Take a trip back to the time when Southwest Florida's own "wild blue yonder" served as practice flying ground for more than 80,000 bombardiers, fighter pilots and gunners. Veteran interviews and vintage photographs recall the time of World War I and II Army Airfields in Arcadia, Clewiston, Fort Myers, Naples and Punta Gorda.

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Everglades City and Chokoloskee

Jul. 28, 2006

In the late 18th century, the first white settlers arrived in the remote Ten-thousand Islands near the edge of the Everglades. In the 1920s, streetcar-advertising magnate Barron Gift Collier became the largest landowner in the region--with big plans for its future. He transformed the small settlement of "Everglade" into a booming company town that was the staging site for the building of the final stretch of the Tamiami Trail.

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Koreshan Unity: A Quest for Utopia

May. 26, 2006

The Koreshan Unity has been called “one of the most bizarre” communal utopias developed in the 19th century. Historians and descendents tell the story of the believers who established their settlement in the rugged wilderness of Estero, Florida, under the leadership of a charismatic, and controversial, physician.

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