Text, photos and audio for Kress Building added to Otocast
Art Southwest Florida previously reported that text, photos and audios have been added to the Fort Myers Guide on Otocast for thirteen historic points of interest. A 14th location has now been added to Otocast, the Kress Building on Broadway across the street from the Franklin Shops on First. Most people today associate the nearly 100-year-old building with his anchor tenant, Starbucks.
Many 
sources, including the Application for Historic Designation of the Fort Myers Business District, state that the building was built and opened for business in 1927. However, this is a variance with contemporaneous stories published in the Fort Myers Press, which reported that construction began in May of 1928 and was completed four months later, with the grand opening taking 
place on September 18, 1928.
See also Joanne Iwinski Miller’s FORT MYERS Florida OLD PHOTO Facebook PAGE, which contains progress photos provided courtesy of Armin Bechtold that document the construction taking place between May and August of 1928.
The audio provides further details and historical information.
You 
will find a list of the other 13 historic buildings that have been added to Otocast here.
If you are new to Otocast, the app is free and available for download in your phone’s app store and on Google Play. Otocast works through geo-location mapping. Users don’t need to know anything about an artwork or historic building they happen upon. There’s no need to look for a plaque or QR Code. Simply tap on the app and the guide automatically 
comes up, providing access to an array of information about the historic building you’re looking at. The app will also identify other historic points of interest that are located nearby.
In addition to the 14 historic points of interest now on Otocast, the Fort Myers Guide also contains narrative, photos and audios for 49 murals and 30 other artworks scattered about town.
By virtue of its audio component, Otocast is like having your very own tour guide who knows all the facts, figures and inside 
stories about the artworks and historic buildings you see. In fact, in the other towns and cities where Otocast is already in use the app serves as a platform for self-guided audio tours that encourage exploration and discovery, helping people gain a better appreciation of their cultural legacy. This feature is particularly useful in a town like Fort Myers, where many of the century-old buildings 
and pieces in the city’s public art collection encapsulate tales about the pioneers who built a rough-and-tumble cow town out of the remnants of an old wooden frontier outpost in the years following the end of the Civil War.
Otocast currently 
hosts guides containing in excess of 4,500 points of interest in more than 200 cities in 90+ countries.
Watch this space for more articles on the historic points of interest that are already live and that will be added to Otocast in the coming weeks. For more information, please contact the City of Fort Myers’ Office of Communications and Public Affairs.
Visit the Fort Myers Guide on Otocast here.
January 11, 2024.
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Fort Myers adds historic points of interest to Otocast mobile phone app
About the Author
Tom Hall is both an amateur artist and aspiring novelist who writes art quest thrillers. He is in the final stages of completing his debut novel titled "Art Detective," a story that fictionalizes the discovery of the fabled billion-dollar Impressionist collection of Parisian art dealer Josse Bernheim-Jeune, thought by many to have perished during World War II when the collection's hiding place, Castle de Rastignac in southern France, was destroyed by the Wehrmacht in reprisal for attacks made by members of the Resistance operating in the area. A former tax attorney, Tom holds a bachelor's degree as well as both a juris doctorate and masters of laws in taxation from the University of Florida. Tom lives in Estero, Florida with his fiancee, Connie, and their four cats.