Shell Harbor, its canals, and Hugo Lindgren by Deane Manolis (January 2003)

Ever wonder why only one of the three bridges over the Shell Harbor canal system is boater friendly? Or why there is a lagoon or basin east of Lindgren Blvd. at East Gulf Dr.? These and other questions come to mind as I idle down the canals from my Beach Rd. home to San Carlos Bay. Last spring I sat down with Letcher Wigington, my next-door neighbor, to get the answers to these questions as well as an overall history of Shell Harbor.

Wigington, a vigorous octogenarian, is a contemporary of Hugo Lindgren, the developer of Shell Harbor. As a long-time sales director for Michigan Homes, builder of most of Shell Harbor residences, Wigington has countless stories of the early days of Shell Harbor as he worked daily with Lindgren. “I walked the bottom of all the canals before they were flooded,” says Wigington. After talking with him and learning of Hugo Lindgren’s pivotal role on Sanibel, I decided to write this story. I obtained more information from the Sanibel library’s clipping collection, as well as from exerpts from several books; these include The Sea Shell Islands, by Elinore M. Dormer, Sanybel Light, by Charles LeBuff, and The Unknown Story of Sanibel and Captiva, by Florence Fritz.

The history of Shell Harbor and its canals is intertwined with that of the Sanibel Causeway, which was built with Lindgren’s support and financing. Hugo Lindgren was a successful, self-made Swedish immigrant from Jamestown, NY. With his metal cabinet company as a base, he began investing in land in the 1950s. He first visited Sanibel in 1955, and between 1957-59, he bought about 125 acres of the east-end of the island, gulf to bay, for $500-600 per acre. At the time, this acreage was a mosquito-infested lowland, averaging 3-ft. elevation. He also bought what is now the Beachview golf course and subdivision, as well as more land in the area of Chateau-Sur-Mer. By the end of the decade, Lindgren recognized his land had little value for development because of the inaccessibility of the island.

Although long considered, the idea of a bridge or causeway linking Sanibel with the mainland was explored in earnest in 1955. A detailed study showed that the cost would be double the first ten years’ income, and the project died. But Lindgren, familiar with the toll bridge to Gasparilla Island, approached the Lee County Board in 1959 with a new request for a causeway. He wrote a check for $180,000 to do the feasibility study, and this time the project proved viable. Two years of wrangling followed, with strong opposition by many of the island’s residents. A consortium organized by Lindgren bought the entire causeway bond issue of approximately $4.5 million. The causeway won final approval in November 1961 at a hearing so tumultuous the police were called to restore order. Construction began in February 1962 and the causeway was opened in May, 1963. The causeway was to have connected with Bailey Rd., but the Bailey family, which vigorously opposed the causeway, claimed their property at the end of Bailey Rd. extended into the bay and refused right-of-way. So the causeway’s third bridge was brought ashore on Lindgren’s property. He donated land to the county on either side of the bridge terminus, built the causeway road to Periwinkle, and also donated land and furnishings for the Chamber of Commerce visitor center.

Shortly after Lindgren purchased the Shell Harbor property, he asked Michigan Homes and Amey Engineering to lay out the subdivision and canal system. Letcher Wigington headed Michigan Homes Sanibel operation and advised Lindgren for over 10 years, at Shell Harbor and Beachview. Hurricane Donna in 1960 left parts of Shell Harbor under water, and Lindgren realized he would need to drain and increase the land elevation. Dredging from San Carlos Bay was used to fill some of the land north of Periwinkle. Fill from the canal system was used for the land both north and south of Periwinkle; the average elevation was increased to 51/2-6 ft. above sea level. There was a natural depression allowing drainage to the Gulf east of the current Lindgren-East Gulf Dr. intersection. This required a large fill to support the current condo developments; thus the large, deep basin, which supplied the fill. The canal between Lindgren and Beach Rd. is wider and deeper than most because more fill also was needed for the beach in that area.

Hansche Earthmoving of Sarasota excavated the canals using “pans” to scrape out 5-6 cu. yd. at a time. This took a year, and the canals were completed at about the same time as the causeway. Large box culverts were to be used for roadway bridges over the canals—two on Periwinkle and one on Lindgren. Wigington tells the story of the more substantial westerly bridge on Periwinkle, which allows access to the bay for a large portion of Shell Harbor. Lindgren was known for spending no more than necessary—“I had to take him to a marina to show him how high boats are, and remind him that his lots would be more valuable with a larger bridge.” Lindgren ended up spending the money for one bridge—the two box culverts remain an irritant for some of us.

Shell Harbor lots sold for $5,000 - $6000, with a deed restriction that called for seawalls within 12 months of purchase. Financing was at 6% for four years, and Lindgren told Michigan Homes to refund money if a buyer developed ill health or became disgruntled for some reason.

Because of the causeway and Shell Harbor development, Lindgren became persona non grata with most of the early island residents, and he never lived on Sanibel. However, he was instrumental in bringing the first water system to Sanibel from Pine Island, and he built the island’s first sewage plant as a part of his Beachview development. Lindgren connected about half of the Shell Harbor lots to the sewage plant, as well as most of the commercial/condo development on East Gulf Dr. adjacent to Shell Harbor. The remaining Shell Harbor lots were not connected due to the higher cost of laying pipe around the complex canal system.

By the late 1960’s, Lindgren was more focused on the Beachview development. Again, he needed fill to raise the land elevation, and he excavated the “Panama Canal”, the nearly-mile-long lagoon along Middle Gulf Dr. in Beachview. Island residents were in an uproar and accused Lindgren of excavating 30 ft deep and breaking the fresh/salt-water barrier, allowing salt-water intrusion. As a result of islander complaints, the State of Florida sued Lindgren in 1970 for alleged damage to the environment. Wigington reports that Lindgren brought in a professor of geology from the University of Florida, who proved that the barrier was intact at 30 ft and that the deepest excavation was 15 ft. The suit was dropped, the state apologized, but Lindgren was never exonerated in the media or public eye. Lindgren could have countersued to recover his considerable expenses defending the suit, but did not. He lost interest in his Sanibel ventures, and sold out to Michigan Homes in 1972. (Michigan Homes, acquiring some additional land, built the second nine holes of the Beachview golf course along with the present clubhouse.) Embittered, Lindgren refused media interviews for some time. In a 1980 interview in the Miami Herald, he was called “The Shy Caesar of Sanibel”, and by a 1984 interview in the Sanibel Island Reporter, he had mellowed and was philosophical about his Sanibel experience.

Letcher Wigington remains supportive in his memories of Lindgren. As many self-made, entrepreneurial individuals, “he liked to see things happen—his pleasure was seeing a place where people could come and live in nice homes and have a boat and fish--he did not dream of making money”. Lindgren walked around with a yellow legal pad and ran his business entirely from notations made on daily rounds. He had no signed contracts with Michigan Homes—“everything was handled with a handshake,” according to Wigington. He views the first sewage plant as Lindgren’s significant contribution, recalling the malodorous stench along East Gulf Dr. from condominium septic systems.

I wondered with Wigington if it finally is time to rehabilitate Hugo Lindgren’s name in Sanibel history. He turned age 100 on December 8, still living in his home in Tanglewood near Ft. Myers with 24 hr. nursing care—unfortunately he is not cognizant of his surroundings. When we look at Shell Harbor and Beachview today, we certainly don’t see sleepy “old Sanibel.” But we do see nice homes in pleasant surroundings, with opportunity for recreation—not rows of high-rise condos as in many other Florida beach communities. And we often cuss at the causeway, but most of us recognize its value and want to keep it as it is. Hugo Lindgren could have done much worse!