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Learn about the history of old Bonita Springs from Byron Liles, vice president of the Bonita Springs Historical Society. Watch »

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Bonita Springs may not have a particularly long history but the history it has is well worth remembering, local historian and lifelong resident Byron Liles says.

“I don’t want to be labeled as someone who lives on nostalgia, but the truth is we have a very nice town here and I’d like to keep a connection to its past,” he said. “Somehow, the past gives you an identity, a needed connection.”

Liles helped 76 interested Bonita residents and visitors connect with the city’s past during a two-hour walking tour of some of the city’s oldest areas Saturday.

Sponsored by the Bonita Springs Historical Society, the Bonita Walk has been held annually for the past 12 years, said Charlie Strader, society president.

“It’s always been very popular,” he said. “The walk is important because it gives people a look at some of the city’s eclectic architecture, and shows how livable the neighborhoods are.

“Our identity as a town is tied to that and if we don’t retain it, we’re going to look like every other fast-growing town.”

Saturday’s tour started in the shadow of the Liles Hotel in Riverside Park. Built by Liles’ grandfather, Wallace Liles, in 1926, the renovated hotel has been headquarters for the historical society since 2006.

It’s just one of several notable architectural examples along the tour route, including the Shangri-La Resort and the building that currently houses Dixie Moon Café.

Both buildings date to the 1920s and were built in the simple but distinctive Mission style.

Just over one mile in distance, the tour heads south on Old 41 Road, then east on Dean Street to Bonita Springs Elementary School.

The 1921 brick structure is the city’s only example of Mediterranean Revival architecture and the city’s only building listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Throughout the tour, Liles’ personal tales of growing up in Bonita Springs during the late 1940s and 1950s made the town’s history come alive.

“My main claim to fame is I stuck around Bonita Springs a long time,” he said. “I’m one of the oldest people around who has lived here all my life.”

He stops the tour to explain how the town’s children waited for mangoes to ripen on trees along Dean Street, or to describe how they wore rolled-up jeans when they jumped from a railroad trestle into their favorite Imperial River swimming hole.

The grassy space in front of Riverside Park’s band shell has always been a place where the community gathered, he said.

Weekly horse shows, traveling rodeos and bonfires were held there when Liles was a boy. In 1957, a baseball field was built on the site so the town could field its first Little League team.

Liles played on the Bonita Springs Crackers its first two seasons, when it lost every game it played except one.

“That game was tied when it was rained out,” he said. “As far as I know, the Crackers never won a game.”

Gail Miller said stories like that make the Bonita Walk different every year.

“I think it’s important to immerse yourself in a place’s history, to know more about its people,” she said. “This is the third time I’ve come with my sister and we learn something new and different every time.”

Saturday’s walk was Glenn Bennecoff’s first. He has been visiting Bonita Springs for the past 10 years but recently retired and plans to live in Bonita part-time.

“What I learned is there was not much here, not that long ago,” he said. “But this is a beautiful area of Florida and I wanted to get to know Bonita a little better. Learning the history helps.”

Contact Pete Bishop at lpbishop@comcast.net