EVERGLADES COMMUNITY CHURCH

This building was completed by April 1940 on land donated in May 1939 by the estate of Barron Gift Collier, founder of the county which bears his name and its largest landholder. The congregation at that time was Presbyterian, officially established in 1926, and had met in various places in the city. Before then, various visiting pastors served the area, the first being the Reverend George W. Gatewood in 1888. One condition of the gift of land was that the structure be erected before October 1, 1940 and that the church be non-denominational. Both conditions were met when the dedication ceremony took place on May 5th, 1940. The town was a Collier company town with buildings constructed of ship lap siding, a tin roof, and flooring made of Dade County pine. A fellowship hall and breezeway to the southwest was added in the late 1950s. The digital carillon was installed in 1990 and chimes hourly. On September 4, 2007, Everglades City proclaimed the church to be historically preserved because it “provides links with the aspirations and attainments of the City’s pioneers and their descendents.” The bell tower and narthex were repaired in June, 2008, as the first step in a complete restoration of the building.