Everglades City's City Hall survives the elements. Photo by Jim Freeman.
Storm Survivor
Travel to most small towns in America, and you'll soon spot the courthouse - a stately building on the town square. That could describe Everglades City's City Hall, which occupies a prime spot in the center of the historic fishing town's tiny downtown. The two-story, neoclassical building was completed in 1928 as the county courthouse and is one of the few original buildings built by Barron Gift Collier, who purchased and helped develop the land that became Collier County.
When the county seat moved to Naples in 1960, the building became City Hall. But time and the elements haven't been kind to the structure. A local group began efforts to restore the landmark and place it on the National Register of Historic Places. But in October 2005, Hurricane Wilma battered it so badly it was pronounced unusable. For two tense months the building seemed destined for the wrecking ball. But in December, the Federal Emergency Management Agency agreed to give $6 million to restore a beloved piece of the city's history.
-Nanci Theoret