Wonderland Realty Inc.
Wonderland Realty was founded 50 years ago, by H.D. "Andy" Anderson - and is now the oldest existing real estate firm Cape Coral. The company, now in its third generation, is owned and operated by Elmer Tabor, 58, Anderson's grandson. The real estate firm is full service and handles commercial, residential and property management.
The first business in Cape Coral was Gulf American Land Corp., which opened in 1957, and no longer exists today. In 1955, Anderson, from Bluefield, W. Va., bought a summer home on Fort Myers Beach intended for family vacations. He then met the Rosen Brothers and didn't like the sales tactics the Rosens were using and so he decided to open up an independent sales office in the area.
In 1959, Anderson and his wife moved to Cape Coral and in 1960, Anderson opened Wonderland Realty, with the name based on a Rosen promotion of Cape Coral being a "waterfront wonderland." Anderson and some other Cape Coral residents formed the Citizens Mutual Corp. and built the Cape Coral Shopping Plaza on Cape Coral Parkway to house the city's first businesses. Wonderland still operates in that plaza today.
The road behind the plaza, Southeast 47th Terrace, was used as a runway for small planes to bring in potential property buyers. Tabor came to Cape Coral in 1960, when his father decided to open a grocery store in the plaza, he was only 8 years old.
In 1968, Anderson retired from the real estate business and sold Wonderland to Dorcas, Tabor's mother, who kept the business going for about 10 years. Tabor took over in 1978, he then received his broker's license and continues strong in the real estate business.
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