Cape Coral is a city in Lee County, Florida, United States, on the Gulf of Mexico.

After Florida became a state in 1845, multiple pioneers started selling and buying land in what is now Cape Coral under the Homestead Act.

[10] Cape Coral's modern history began in 1957 when two brothers from Baltimore, Maryland, Leonard and Jack Rosen, flew over the peninsula known as Redfish Point, across the Caloosahatchee River near present-day Fort Myers.

Instead of listing the lots with real estate agents, GALC developed the land sales, dinner-party model, operating from banquet rooms in local hotels.

The program was so successful that offices were opened in 24 states, and an arrangement was made with an airline to charter flights to fly buyers to the property.

Canals were dug (without first obtaining state permits, an omission which later bankrupted Gulf American[11]), streets paved, houses and businesses built.

[citation needed] The public yacht club, a golf course, medical clinic and shopping center were up and running.

The city incorporated on August 18, 1970,[4] and its population continued to grow rapidly until the real estate slowdown that gripped the region beginning in 2008.

[citation needed] On September 28, 2022, Cape Coral suffered major damage when Hurricane Ian made landfall nearby.

[16] Cape Coral is a large peninsula and is bordered in the south and east by the Caloosahatchee River and in the west by Matlacha Pass.

[17] The area supports waterfowl, wading birds, migrant songbirds, gopher tortoises, dolphins and reptiles.

Nature enthusiasts can track exotic birds and native fish from the boardwalk at Lake Kennedy and watch the West Indian manatees at Sirenia Vista Park.

In December 2012, the Lee County VA Healthcare Center opened on Diplomat Parkway, providing a large range of medical services to veterans.

Furthermore, Lee Health is partnering with Florida State University to bring an Internal Medicine Residency Program to Cape Coral Hospital.

Lee Health will also open a new outpatient center as a part of the Bimini Basin project near Downtown Cape Coral.

[35] In 2021, Bayfront Health, now Shorepoint, opened a freestanding Emergency Room & Urgent Care in Northeast Cape Coral along Del Prado Blvd.

Cape Coral has continuously expanded public and private school systems with high performance standards.

[45] The main campus of Florida SouthWestern State College is located immediately east of Cape Coral in Fort Myers.

Cape Coral Technical College[46] is a postsecondary educational institution operated by the Lee County public school system.

Employer-specific training, both on and off-site, is available through Business and Industry Services of Lee County which maintains an office in Cape Coral.

[48] The system provides many residents with waterfront living with access to the Gulf of Mexico via the broad Caloosahatchee River and Matlacha Pass.

The Gulf of Mexico provides access to smaller tropical islands, rookeries, and sports fishing grounds.

Interstate 75 passes within 10 miles (16 km) of Cape Coral and connects northward to Tampa; and southeastward to Miami.

Several other bridges span the Caloosahatchee River east of Cape Coral in adjoining North Fort Myers.

[50] Cape Coral is 14 miles (23 km) from Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW), which serves nearly 10 million passengers annually.

In 1977, Cape Coral became the first municipality in the United States to use the reverse osmosis process on a large scale with an initial operating capacity of 3,000,000 US gallons (11,000 m3) per day.

By 1985, the city had the largest low pressure reverse osmosis plant in the world, capable of producing 15 MGD (56,780 m3/day).

The Cape was among the first in Florida to deploy the new 4.9 GHz pre-WiMax wireless channel authorized by the FCC in 2003 for exclusive public safety use.