BANK OF EVERGLADES

By  Mike Miller November 20, 2025

Bank of Everglades building is in Everglades City, Florida. It was built in 1927 and served as the region's first bank. It was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on July 15, 1999.

The site qualifies for the Register based on its architecture and association with Barron Collier. A key point was its role in funding the Tamiami Trail, which opened South Florida to tourism.

As of November 2025, the site will soon undergo restoration by the Everglades Society for Historic Preservation.

Barron Gift Collier, a New York advertising magnate, funded the Bank of Everglades building to anchor his Everglades vision. He aimed to transform the remote swamp into a transportation hub.

The building was designed by architect William O. Sparklin, who also designed the Collier County Courthouse (now Everglades City Hall) and the Everglades Laundry (now the Museum of the Everglades).

The two-story Classical Revival structure has a symmetrical facade with arched windows and a cornice. It was built with stucco walls and a flat roof.

The bank opened on January 1, 1928, handling loans for farmers and fishermen. It financed a good portion of the Tamiami Trail construction.

Collier's company built 100 miles of the 275-mile Tamiami Trail (US-41) from just east of Naples all the way to the Dade County (Miami) line.

His crews blasted limestone, dredged canals, and laid the roadbed across the swamp for two years. Without Collier’s money and equipment, the Trail would not have been completed when it was.

Bank of Everglades also housed Everglades City’s first telephone exchange in 1928. The Great Depression strained operations, but the bank endured.

Collier died in 1939, leaving a legacy of roads and railroads. The bank relocated to Immokalee in 1962. The building was then used as a rooming house.

In 1979, the building was purchased by Reba “Rusty” Rupsis, who published the Everglades Echo newspaper in the building until 1990. After that, it was a Bed & Breakfast by several succeeding owners.

The last owner was the late Bob Flick, who purchased the building in 1996. It was Naples local Bob and his daughter Patty Flick who got the historic designation for the building.

Patty ran the Bank of Everglades Bed & Breakfast there until it closed in 2017. The closure happened shortly before Hurricane Irma damaged the building in September 2017, including all of the antique furniture.

The building has remained vacant since 2017. In 2020 Bob Flick donated it to the Everglades Society for Historic Preservation (ESHP).

Damages from Hurricane Irma and erosion from time have taken their toll. As of November 2025 an in-depth structural analysis has been completed.

Soon the ESHP will finalize approval of the architectural plans for the extensive renovation process.

When the building is restored, it will serve as the permanent location for the Everglades Area Welcome Center and Trail Town Headquarters.

Bank of Everglades building is at 103 Broadway West, Everglades City, FL 34139. It lies south of Naples on US-41. Reach it via Collier Boulevard to SR-29.

Consider the site a construction zone during restoration. You can view the exterior daily from dawn to dusk. Parking is available on nearby streets.

Respect construction barriers. Once it’s completed, you can see inside the building by visiting the new Welcome Center.

EVERGLADES SOCIETY
FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION WEBSITE

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