property - from the Gulf of Mexico to
Tamiami Trail - to build a resort com-
munity. His first projects were the con-
struction of an 18-hole championship
golf course, a club house and a bathing
pavilion. Joslin hired T. E. Fredricks,
who had worked for renowned golf
course architect Donald Ross, to be in
charge of the new project. Bermuda
grass, cut from the nearby orange
groves, was used on the fairways. The course opened in 1931, along with the club- house. In 1946, the Watkins family purchased the hotel and golf course and continued to operate it until 2021.
Modern waterfront living in Naples sprang to life in the 1940's and 1950's with the development of Aqualane Shores by Forrest Walker and Port Royal by Glen Sample. Both developments reshaped the mangrove wetlands of Naples Bay into waterfront lots and communities. While Port Royal was being developed on Naples Bay, several new waterfront communities were emerging from the mangrove estuaries up the coast. John Pulling was building Naples Cay and Seagate in the early 1950's and J. W. Connor was building Vanderbuilt Lagoon. In the early 1960's, the Moorings was being developed inside Doctor's Pass by Milton Link and soon thereafter came Park Shore, developed by Ray Lutgert. All of these projects involved clearing and disposing of large quantities of vegetation, mostly mangroves, while working in deep muck. Once the land was cleared, most of it had to be "filled" to raise it above sea level.
As Southwest Florida and Naples prospered, so did the Collier family enterprises. After the death of both brothers, Sam and Miles, Barron Collier Jr. was left to run the vast Collier holdings in South West Florida. He settled his family in Palm Beach and flew daily to South West Florida to oversee the operations. In 1958 he had to give up the direct running of the company due to required lung surgery. Norman Herren, originally hired by Graham Copeland some 20 years before that, was put in charge to oversee the enterprises.
In the early 50's the Collier corporation was still the largest property holder although their holdings had been whittled down due to death in the family and considerable donations to the state and federal governments and to ecological organizations.
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