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By now you probably know who won Marco’s City Council elections. As I write, however, with newspaper deadlines being what they are, results aren’t in yet.

Either way, we will have some new leadership at City Hall.

As I pondered our future I found in some old files a yellowing, 22-year-old copy of The Islander, an Eagle publication celebrating the 20th anniversary of modern Marco.

It offers a fun and poignant look back, from our infancy in 1965 to the 20th anniversary, 1985.

Front-page news included articles about the day modern Marco officially began.

On Jan. 31, 1965, about 20,000 visitors from all over South Florida, showed up on Marco for the party. As Editor William Gentry wrote: “Many came with checkbooks and some even with cold cash to put down deposits on hundreds of lots and home-sites.”

Said Deltona Corporation’s Vice President Neil Bahr: “We had 10 inland model homes on Tahiti Road and 12 waterway models on Chestnut Court. Prices started at $18,950.” Again, that was in 1965.

“Most 100-foot wide waterway lots were $8,250. The 80-foot waterway lots with limited access (to the Gulf of Mexico) were $6,250. Inland lots were as low as $2,495 and golf course lots were $6,700. Estates area home-sites started at $5,995.”

Marco’s access to the mainland was as much an issue then as it is today. We worry about how handle sometimes choking traffic on the Jolley Bridge. Back then, concern was not a crowded bridge but having a bridge, period.

As one headline put it, referring to Marco’s embryonic period, “Access to Island Was Major Concern.”

From 1938 to 1969, the only vehicle access to Marco was via an antique, hand-operated swing bridge near Goodland Bay.

“It took two sturdy feet and a strong back to swing open the bridge so fishing boats, sailboat and power cruisers with high cabins could pass through to the gulf or north to the Marco River,” wrote editor William Gentry. “The whole procedure took about 10 minutes.”

He noted that the Mackle brothers thought a new bridge by way of Highway 951 would be critically important to Marco’s development. It would, for example, shorten travel distance to Naples by almost 11 miles.

This 1985 newspaper had advertising by restaurants here and near here, but there were a lot fewer places to eat then than there are the 100 or so eateries we have now. The prices in the ads are fun reading.

The Voyager, formerly at the Marriott, had Sunday brunch for $11.95. The Gator Grill, at 30 Marco Lake Drive, had stone crabs for $8.95 a pound and soft shell crab platters for $6.50. The specialty of the house was Alligator Burger.

The Bavarian Inn (now Sasso’s) offered “Beef and Reef” for $12.95 and New York strip, stuffed flounder or scallops for $10.95.

O’Shea’s, where Pier 81 condos now stand, offered waterfront dining, a raw bar and late night food, plus live music from Frankie Ray and Mary Ellen.

The only ads for restaurants still here were for Su’s Garden, the Old Marco Inn and Erin’s Isle.

For readers in 1985 who thought they knew all about Marco, the newspaper had a “Test Your Knowledge of Marco” quiz. Can you answer some of these Q&As?

– What’s the official name of Marco’s Lions Club?

– What does the Chamber of Commerce guarantee will happen every summer?

– Where did the original residents of Goodland come from?

– The answers will be in Don Farmer’s “On the Town” column in the Feb. 1 Eagle.

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Email: Chris@chriscurle.com.