[9] Before the arrival of European explorers and settlers, the region centered on present-day Punta Gorda was home to the Calusa people.

[11] Frederick and Jarvis Howard, Union Army veterans, homesteaded an area south of the Peace River near present-day Punta Gorda about a decade after the Civil War.

To ensure his development's success, Trabue convinced the Florida Southern Railway to bring its road to his town on the south side of Charlotte Harbor.

[14] Punta Gorda became the southernmost stop on the Florida Southern Railroad,[14] until an extension was built to Fort Myers in 1904,[15] attracting the industries that propelled its initial growth.

On December 3, 1887, dissatisfied with Trabue's lack of infrastructure development, 34 townspeople met at Hector's Billiard Parlor to discuss incorporation.

The group voted to incorporate and rename the town after the Spanish name for the point on which it was located, Punta Gorda.

By 1907, a railroad was built direct to Port Boca Grande, ending the brief phosphate-shipping boom from Punta Gorda.

[18] The Punta Gorda Herald was founded by Robert Kirby Seward in 1893 and published weekly during its early years.

[20] Early Punta Gorda greatly resembled the modern social climate of various classes living and working together.

[21] This included City Marshal John H. Bowman, who was shot and killed in his front parlor on January 29, 1903, in view of his family.

During World War II, a U.S. Army airfield was built in Punta Gorda to train combat air pilots.

These communities provided waterfront or golf-course homes for retirees with access to a downtown with shopping, restaurants, and parks.

In the early 1980s at the site of the old Maud Street Fishing Docks, a new shopping, restaurant, and marina complex, Fishermen's Village,[26] was constructed that continues to be one of Southwest Florida's primary attractions.

[28] On September 28, 2022, the Category 4 Hurricane Ian made landfall in Punta Gorda, resulting in severe damage throughout Florida.

Port Charlotte is west of Punta Gorda's incorporated residential neighborhoods Deep Creek[29] and Suncoast Lakes, north of the Peace River.

Florida SouthWestern State College's Charlotte Campus is Punta Gorda's institution of higher learning.

Many books were destroyed, and the volumes that could be salvaged were moved to the new Women's Club building, where members adopted the library as a project.

[45][failed verification] According to the 2015 American Community Survey, about 88% of Punta Gorda commuters traveled by automobile, with about 78% driving alone and 10% carpooling.

[46] The city last had intercity passenger rail with service by the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad on the Jacksonville-Fort Myers-Naples section of pre-Amtrak Champion.

[47] Punta Gorda Airport has scheduled commercial service by Allegiant Air and seasonally by Sun Country Airlines.