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Hendry County
is comprised of the following communities:
Port LaBelle, a 31,000-acre single-family planned housing community three miles east of the city of LaBelle, brings a modern, country club atmosphere to the city of LaBelle. It was originally developed by General Development Corp. in the 1970s and includes neighborhood parks, a marina, and a growing residential community. In 1972 the land for the Port LaBelle community was purchased by the Miami developer from the heirs of Joe B. Hendry, Sr., the “Cattle King” of south Florida, who bought most of the county’s land from LaBelle to Clewiston from Henry Ford in 1942. The majority of Port LaBelle's vast, and until recently remote lands, are still unfenced and are mostly vacant one-quarter acre lots, some lots backing up to recreational greenbelt areas. Four community subdivisions have been developed over the last twenty years and include:
Country Village, north of Cowboy Way, is a small neighborhood of primarily one-bedroom homes each with a single car garage, all homes have underground utilities.
Eucalyptus Village homes are larger 2 and 3-bedroom homes with one or two-car garages or carport, although most homes have converted the garage to an extra room. All homes have underground utility lines.
Laurel Oaks, north of State Road 80, is a half mile east of the Oxbow Inn and Port LaBelle Marina, and homes are executive style with 3-bedrooms or more and two-car garages and underground utilities.
Port LaBelle Ranchettes, north of State Road 80 and just south of the Caloosahatchee River, have larger executive-style homes on acreage of two to five acres and above ground utility lines.
The remainder and majority of the Port LaBelle area is still undeveloped and all homes will have above ground electric. The privately owned Port LaBelle marina and OxBow Hotel and Restaurant, north of SR80, are on the Caloosahatchee River, which flows from Lake Okeechobee to Ft. Myers. Lake Okeechobee is the second largest freshwater lake in the United States.
The City of LaBelle, 3 miles west of Port LaBelle, is located in a vast oak hammock and on the shores of the Caloosahatchee River, at the intersection of State Roads 29 and 80, and is 26 miles east of Ft. Myers. The town and unincorporated communities within a 15-mile radius see the number of residents rise to 12,000 or more during the winter vegetable and citrus harvesting season. The city of LaBelle has recently annexed land south along State Road 29 in which a technical college is planned and a large subdivision by the Bonita Bay Group in expected in coming years. The city also annexed and purchased a portion of Port LaBelle’s Country Village vacant lots to build a waste treatment field.
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