The sign that introduces tourists to the history
of the location (above) and some of the many
treasures that can be found nestled in the trees
at the Bean Depot & Museum.
If you don’t know what you’re walking into, you’re
bound to have questions. From the dollar bills
plastered on the walls with funny sayings and graffi ti,
to the posters in the little museum next door, to
the restaurant that talks about the “Suicide Simon”
show, to the sign above one of the doors that says
“South Bean Boston Depot”; there is an awful lot to
take in, and much of it is confusing.
There is a sign on the property that says,
“Historical Rehabilitation Project of El Jobean Post
Offi ce and General Store. Historic landmark of
Charlotte County, built 1922. Formerly used as a
post offi ce, general store, railroad dept, temporary
jail and residence.”
While the sign says the structure was built in
1922, the history of the property goes back even
further. From 1888 until 1921 there was a town
approximately where El Jobean is, named Southland.
It’s sheer reason for existence was the Charlotte
Harbor & Northern Railroad, which ran through
Arcadia and El Jobean, all the way to Boca Grande.
It was originally a railroad line built for phosphate,
but as word got out around the eastern part of the
country about the paradise we know as Florida,
more and more tourists started to come as well.
The administrators of the CH&N (nicknamed the
“Cold, Hungry and Naked” by many who worked
for the rail line) realized the need for human transportation
to stop in Southwest Florida, primarily in
Boca Grande, and they started hooking up passenger
cars as well as freight. In fact, a chalkboard
at the little Bean Depot Museum bears the
message “Charlotte Harbor & Northern Train
Schedule: Comes Thru to Boca Grande, 6:15.”
The companies in the Southland/El Jobean
area at that time were the Hall Naval Stores and
Stephen Brothers turpentine camps. They, as well
as the railroad, leased prisoners for labor.
In 1922 a man
named Joel Bean
came to town,
had the town
replatted, and
realized he wanted
to rename it
something other
than Southland.
He originally
called it South
Boston, but it
didn’t seem to
suit him, the area
or its inhabitants.
He eventually
renamed it in
an anagram of his own name - El Jobean (or, as
it was named originally, El Jobe-an). Not long
after Bean came to town he built a post offi ce
and general store, and of course constructed
his dream hotel (it certainly wasn’t what he had
dreamed, but it was something).