Pioneering homesteader Captain W.T. Collier and his family settled on the northern part of the island. It was the elder Collier's son, Captain Bill Collier, who really began to put Marco Island on the map. An inventor and entrepreneur, Captain Bill invented a clam dredger that helped streamline Marco's emerging clamming industry and attracted other businessmen.

But it was the land and not the water that secured Captain Bill's place in Marco history. In 1895, he was digging on his property when he unearthed some unusual objects that looked like old arrows and other artifacts. Noted archaeologist Dr. Frank Cushing arrived in 1896 to begin one of the most celebrated archaeological expeditions in North American history. Among the many significant artifacts at the site, Cushing unearthed the famous Calusa-era Key Marco Cat: a 6-inch figurine, which is currently housed in the Smithsonian Institution.

In the early 1920s, Barron G. Collier (the man for whom Collier County is named and no relation to the Marco Island Colliers), purchased approximately one million acres of Southwest Florida real estate, including about 90 percent of Marco Island. Plans for the island were in the works and the future looked bright - until the Great Depression arrived and turned the lights out on any development plans.