Iconic Monroe Station lost in Collier County blaze

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OCHOPEE, Fla. – The historic Monroe Station at Tamiami Trail and Loop Road was ruined in a fire early Sunday morning before plans for its restoration could materialize.

Large flames engulfed the wooden building before it collapsed; its beams clamoring to the ground. The fire marshall is investigating the cause of the fire.

Monroe Station at the Big Cypress National Preserve was built in 1928 and served as a police station and rest stop for motorists traveling between Tampa and Miami, according to historical records. It was built as Barron Gift Collier was developing Tamiami Trail, making it one of the few original buildings to the street, records show.

Monroe Station survived 2005 Hurricane Wilma, which “stripped away the shed-roof extensions and most of the station’s quirky roadside elements,” according to a buildings survey completed by the National Park Service and the U.S. Department of the Interior.

It was purchased by the national Park Service in 1988, deemed a historic site in 2000 and then abandoned in the late 2000s, according to records. Officials with the National Park Service had talks of restoring the wooden structure. There is no word on the state of those plans now that the building is destroyed.

There has been no power in the building for many years.

Further information was not immediately available.

 

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