ESTERO, Fla. — The first school in Estero is nestled just beside one of the oldest homes in the Village off Corkscrew Road.
That house is called the Hall-Hanson-Collier home, which the Historical Society operates out of. Both of these buildings used to be at a different site, on Highlands Avenue, a few short miles away.
One home was left behind there. It's where the Historic Alvarez/ Smith home sits, abandoned. Once all of these structures were neighbors, housing a 1900's Estero family of fisherman and fruit farmers.
Gail Langner is the Board President of the Historical Society.
"There's a history here," she said.
People in the community sought the Alvarez/Smith home out as a gathering place. She says many in Estero feel it's worth saving because it has been in the area for more than a century.
The Village of Estero's councilors agreed. They purchased the land and the Alvarez/Smith home in 2018 for a little more than $24 million. Over the last 6 years, the Village has decided to develop the land.
"The village came to us as the Historical Society and said listen, we have this little house... It's really the last historic home in Estero and it will be in the way," she said.
Now the remaining historic home the community loves needs a new address. Why not next to the Estero School House and the Historical Society, it's original neighboring structures?
To make it happen, The Historical Society is fund-raising $400,000 to renovate the Alvarez/Smith home and move it to their back yard. It's the same process they've done before.
"We moved the buildings [Estero School House and Hall-Hanson-Collier Home] from Highlands Avenue to Lee County Park," Langner said.
If they can raise the money for the latest move, the three historic buildings can be together once again, more than one hundred years later. They're $20,000 close to their goal.
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