FL H9041

Recognizes February 21, 2016, as Fort Myers Founders' Day in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of Fort Myers' founding.

Honors Captain Manuel A. Gonzalez, who departed Spain at age 14 in 1846, became a naturalized U.S. citizen in Key West in 1859, and founded Fort Myers on February 21, 1866, with his son, brother-in-law John Weatherford, and friend Joseph A. Vivas.

Acknowledges Gonzalez's establishment of the first trading post in the region, his peaceful relations with the Seminole Tribe, and the incorporation of the City of Fort Myers on August 12, 1885, by his son Manuel S. Gonzalez and others.

Recognizes Evalina Weatherford Gonzalez for establishing the first school in Southwest Florida and founding what became the Lee County School System.