Jimmy P's Charred - Bonita Springs Bonita Springs Florida

About My City

Bonita Springs is a city in Lee County, Florida, United States. The population was 53,644 at the 2020 census, up from 43,914 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area, on the state's southwest coast. == History == Bonita Springs' history dates back approximately 8,000 years, with evidence of early inhabitants including the Calusa Indians. In the 1870s, the US Army Corps of Engineers surveyed the area, establishing a camp along what is now the Imperial River. This site became known as Survey, and the river was called Surveyor's Creek. In the 1880s, Braxton Comer bought 6,000 acres around Survey and brought indentured families to work on his plantation. By the early 20th century, developers decided to rename the area Bonita Springs to make it more appealing to settlers and investors. By 1912, streets and avenues were laid out, and the names Survey and Surveyor's Creek were changed to Bonita Springs and the Imperial River, respectively. The completion of a road to Fort Myers in 1917 and the extension of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad's Fort Myers Southern Branch through Bonita Springs to Marco Island in the 1920s spurred significant growth.