Hendry County is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

in the

Florida Heartland The Florida Heartland (also known as South Central Florida) is a region of Florida located to the north and west of Lake Okeechobee, composed of six inland, predominantly rural counties— DeSoto, Glades, Hardee, Hendry, Highlands, and Okee ...

region of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. As of the 2020 census, the population was 39,619, a 1.2% increase from 39,140 at the 2010 census. The county is majority-Hispanic or Latino. Its

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

is LaBelle. Hendry County is in the Clewiston micropolitan area, a Micropolitan statistical area (μSA) which also includes Glades County. These two counties, along with the Cape Coral-Fort Myers (Lee County) MSA and the Naples-Marco Island (Collier County) MSA, constitute the Cape Coral- Fort Myers-

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

Combined Statistical Area (CSA).

History

Indigenous peoples migrated into

around 10000 B.C.E., while the Glades culture existed in southern Florida from approximately 500 B.C.E. to 1500 C.E. Archaeological sites attesting to the presence of the Glades culture in modern-day Hendry County include Clewiston Mounds, Maple Mound, South Lake Mounds, and Tony's Mound. When Europeans arrived in Florida in the 16th century, the

Calusa The Calusa ( , Calusa: *ka(ra)luś(i)) were a Native American people of Florida's southwest coast. Calusa society developed from that of archaic peoples of the Everglades region. Previous Indigenous cultures had lived in the area for thousands o ...

and

Mayaimi The Mayaimi (also Maymi, Maimi) were Native Americans in the United States, Native American people who lived around Lake Mayaimi (now Lake Okeechobee) in the Belle Glade culture, Belle Glade area of Florida from the beginning of the Common Era u ...

tribes resided in

Southwest Florida Southwest Florida is the region along the southwest Gulf coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The area is known for its beaches, subtropical landscape, and winter resort economy. Definitions of the region vary, though its boundaries are genera ...

and around

Lake Okeechobee Lake Okeechobee ( ) is the largest freshwater lake in the U.S. state of Florida. It is the List of largest lakes of the United States by area, eighth-largest natural freshwater lake among the 50 states of the United States and the second-largest ...

. In the early 1800s, French trader Pierre Denaud established a trading post in the modern-day LaBelle area. During the

Seminole Wars The Seminole Wars (also known as the Florida Wars) were a series of three military conflicts between the United States and the Seminoles that took place in Florida between about 1816 and 1858. The Seminoles are a Native American nation which co ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

troops built a fort along the

Caloosahatchee River The Caloosahatchee River is a river on the southwest Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of Florida in the United States, approximately long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National ...

in 1838, named Fort Denaud in his honor. About three years later, Fort Thompson was established. These military posts became the first permanent settlements in modern-day Hendry County. Originally, the area now comprising Hendry County remained relatively inaccessible, as the Florida Everglades covered more than half of the county's present-day boundaries. Further, nearly the entire area became submerged with water seasonally; thus, only cattle-grazing was a suitable industry. However, by 1881, the Atlantic and Gulf Coast and Okeechobee Land Company began draining the land after entering into a contract with the trustees of the internal improvement fund. The county's first post office was established at Fort Thomson in 1884. The state of Florida established Lee County in 1887, which included land now part of Hendry County. Settlement in LaBelle began around 1889 or 1890, after the town was platted by Francis A. Hendry, a cattle rancher, politician, and officer in the

Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army (CSA), also called the Confederate army or the Southern army, was the Military forces of the Confederate States, military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) duri ...

during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. Around the beginning of the 20th century, commercial fishermen began building fishing camps along Lake Okeechobee at Sand Point, later renamed Clewiston, though the city was not permanently settled until about 1920. In 1911, LaBelle became the oldest municipality in modern-day Hendry County after officially incorporating. That same year, the United States government established the Big Cypress Indian Reservation in present-day Hendry County via executive order by President

William Howard Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) served as the 27th president of the United States from 1909 to 1913 and the tenth chief justice of the United States from 1921 to 1930. He is the only person to have held both offices. ...

. By the early 1920s, residents in the eastern Lee County communities of Clewiston, Felda, Fort Denaud, and LaBelle began campaigning for the creation of a new county. Among their reasons for supporting the establishment of a new county was dissatisfaction with the distance between eastern Lee County settlements and the county seat, Fort Myers. Around that time, the ''Caloosahatchee Current'' was established to prove that the area could sustain a newspaper publication. On May 11, 1923, just three days after neighboring Collier County was also created and partitioned from Lee County, the Florida Legislature voted to establish Hendry County, named after Francis A. Hendry. The first county commissioners were M.F. Boisclaire, M.E. Forrey, Thomas O'Brien, R.H. Magill, and L.N. Thomas. The town of LaBelle (chartered as a city in 1925) was designated as the county seat. A temporary jail was erected at a city park in LaBelle, while E.E. Goodno, who owned the Everett Hotel, allowed rooms and office space in the building to be used as a temporary courthouse. Residents voted by a wide margin in favor of a $530,000 bond issue in November 1924, with $430,000 to be allotted towards improvement of roads and $100,000 for construction of a courthouse. The courthouse was finished in 1927, and has been listed in the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

since 1990. In 1925, the only other incorporated municipality in Hendry County, Clewiston, became a city. In mid-1926, a cross-state highway (initially designated as State Road 25, but later renumbered 80) linking Fort Myers to Palm Beach was completed and passed through Hendry County. Around this time, the Gulf Atlantic Transportation, based in LaBelle, began providing transportation from Fort Myers to

West Palm Beach West Palm Beach is a city in and the county seat of Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is located immediately to the west of the adjacent Palm Beach, Florida, Palm Beach, which is situated on a barrier island across the Lake Worth Lag ...

. Another improvement to transportation occurred when the Seaboard–All Florida Railway started its rail service from LaBelle to Fort Myers in mid-1927. The 1926 Miami hurricane and 1928 Okeechobee hurricane both impacted Hendry County, though damage and loss of life was significantly less than in other areas around Lake Okeechobee. The Number 5 British Flying Training School was operated at Riddle Field in Clewiston during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, with more than 1,800

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

pilots trained there. Upon completion of the Herbert Hoover Dike in 1961, a dedication ceremony was held in Clewiston, which included a speech by former president

Herbert Hoover Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was the 31st president of the United States, serving from 1929 to 1933. A wealthy mining engineer before his presidency, Hoover led the wartime Commission for Relief in Belgium and ...

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (3.1%) is water. The county borders

; the Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail runs through Hendry County. Hendry County is the southernmost county in the United States which does not have an ocean coastline or an international border.

Adjacent counties

* Glades County - north * Martin County - northeast * Okeechobee County -
northeast via 5 county intersection in the middle of Lake Okeechobee * Palm Beach County - east * Broward County - southeast * Collier County - south * Lee County - west * Charlotte County - west

Demographics

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 39,619 people, 12,878 households, and 9,378 families residing in the county. As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 36,210 people, 10,850 households, and 8,137 families residing in the county. The population density was . There were 12,294 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 66.08%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 14.75%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.80% Native American, 0.45% Asian, 0.03%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 14.67% from other races, and 3.22% from two or more races. 39.59% of the population were

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race. In 2000 there were 10,850 households, out of which 40.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.7% were married couples living together, 12.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.0% were non-families. 18.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.09 and the average family size was 3.44. In the county, the population was spread out, with 30.0% under the age of 18, 13.3% from 18 to 24, 28.3% from 25 to 44, 18.3% from 45 to 64, and 10.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 30 years. For every 100 females, there were 125.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 131.4 males. The median income for a household in the county was $33,592, and the median income for a family was $34,902. Males had a median income of $25,896 versus $20,070 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the county was $13,663. About 16.9% of families and 24.1% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 29.9% of those under age 18 and 15.0% of those age 65 or over.

2010 Census

In 2010 the population of Hendry Country was 39,140. The racial and ethnic composition of the population was 34.9% non-Hispanic white, 13.4% black or African American, 1.7% Native American, 0.7% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 0.1% non-Hispanic reporting some other race, 2.7% reporting two or more races and 49.2% Hispanic or Latino.

Politics

Hendry County is a Republican stronghold. It has seen increasing Republican support in recent presidential elections, with

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

in 2024 performing better than any Republican since

Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 36th vice president under P ...

's 1972 landslide.

Voter registration

According to the Secretary of State's office, Republicans are a plurality of registered voters in Hendry County.

Education

The School Board of Hendry County (SBHC) oversees public primary and secondary education for students in Hendry County. The SBHC maintains six elementary schools, with three each in Clewiston and LaBelle, and two middle schools, with one in Clewiston and the other in LaBelle. The county has two high schools – Clewiston High School and LaBelle High School. Additionally, the SBHC operates the Montura Early Learning Center, a Pre-K learning institute. There is also a tribal school affiliated with the

Bureau of Indian Education The Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) is a division of the U.S. Department of the Interior under the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs that directs and manages education functions. Formerly known as the Office of Indian Education Programs ...

(BIE), Ahfachkee School at the Big Cypress Indian Reservation. The Clewiston Public Library in Clewiston, the Harlem Library, also in Clewiston and the Barron Library in Labelle, all make up the Hendry County Library Cooperative. The Clewiston Public Library, now known as the Harry T. Vaughn Library, came about in 1941 when the mayor at the time, asked the Garden Club to organize a library. They enlisted the help of a librarian from the Moore Haven High School to cataloged all the books and then prepared to open the library to the public. In 1967, the library moved to its permanent location, and in 1992, it was added to through funding from state and federal grants, the City of Clewiston, Hendry County, $100,000 from U.S. Sugar, and $57,510 from private donations. The mission of the cooperative, as taken from their website, is this: "The mission of the Hendry County Library Cooperative is to provide its citizens with access to materials and information for work, school, and personal life that are both educational and entertaining". Few post-secondary institutions exist in Hendry County. Florida SouthWestern State College has an outreach program campus in LaBelle. Neighboring Collier and Lee counties have several colleges and universities, including Ave Maria University in

Ave Maria The Hail Mary or Ave Maria (from its first words in Latin), also known as the Angelic or Angelical Salutation, is a traditional Catholic prayer addressing Mary, mother of Jesus, Mary, the mother of Jesus. The prayer is based on two biblical pa ...

and campuses of Barry University, Florida SouthWestern State College, Keiser University, and

Rasmussen University Rasmussen University is a private for-profit university with multiple locations throughout the United States. It offers associate, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees as well as certificates and diplomas in career-focused areas at 20 cam ...

in Fort Myers. In western Palm Beach County, a campus of Palm Beach State College is located in Belle Glade.

Archaeology

* Tony's Mound

Communities

Cities

* Clewiston * LaBelle

Census-designated places

* Fort Denaud *

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater ...

* Montura * Pioneer * Port LaBelle (Pt LaBelle units 1-9)

Other unincorporated communities

* Banyan Village (Pt LaBelle units 10-13) * Everhigh Acres * Felda * Flaghole (officially Seven K Estates) * LaDeca Acres * Midway Acres * Port LaBelle Acreage * Wheeler Road

Transportation

Roads

* U.S. Route 27 * Florida State Road 29 *

Florida State Road 78 State Road 78 (SR 78) is the Florida Department of Transportation designation of the highway that historically extended from Pine Island Center, Florida, Pine Island Center on the Gulf of Mexico, Gulf Coast of Florida to the northern tip of Lak ...

* Florida State Road 80

Airports

* Airglades Airport * LaBelle Municipal Airport

In popular culture

* In

Carl Hiaasen Carl Hiaasen (; born March 12, 1953) is an American journalist and novelist. He began his career as a newspaper reporter and by the late 1970s had begun writing novels in his spare time, both for adults and for middle grade readers. Two of his ...

's novel '' Skinny Dip'', agribusiness executive "Red" Hammernut has his offices in LaBelle, and owns significant areas of farmland in Hendry County. * A scene from

Just Cause (film) ''Just Cause'' is a 1995 American crime thriller film directed by Arne Glimcher and starring Sean Connery and Laurence Fishburne. It is based on John Katzenbach's novel of the same name. Plot Paul Armstrong, a American modern liberalism, liberal ...

, a 1995 suspense crime thriller film directed by

Arne Glimcher Arnold "Arne" Glimcher (born March 2, 1938) is an American art dealer, gallerist, film producer, and film director. He is the founder of Pace Gallery, which by 2011 sold more than $400 million in art annually. He is the father of Marc Glimcher, ...

and starring

Sean Connery Sir Thomas Sean Connery (25 August 1930 – 31 October 2020) was a Scottish actor. He was the first actor to Portrayal of James Bond in film, portray the fictional British secret agent James Bond (literary character), James Bond in motion pic ...

and

Laurence Fishburne Laurence John Fishburne III (born July 30, 1961) is an American actor. Throughout his career, he has gained recognition for his roles on stage and screen as militant and authoritative characters. List of awards and nominations received by Laur ...

, was filmed in Fort Denaud, Florida.

Notes

References

External links

Government links/constitutional offices

Hendry County Board of County Commissioners
official website
Hendry County Economic Development Council

Hendry County Supervisor of Elections

Hendry County Property Appraiser

Hendry County Sheriff's Office

Hendry County Tax Collector

Special districts

Hendry County Public Schools

South Florida Water Management District

Judicial branch

Hendry County Clerk of Courts

Public Defender, 20th Judicial Circuit of Florida
serving Charlotte, Collier, Glades, Hendry, and Lee Counties
Office of the State Attorney, 20th Judicial Circuit of Florida

Circuit and County Court for the 20th Judicial Circuit of Florida

Tourism links

Discover Hendry County
- the official tourism website.

Museum and Library Resources

''The Caloosa Belle,''
the local newspaper for Hendry County, Florida fully and openly available in th
Florida Digital Newspaper Library
{{authority control Florida counties 1923 establishments in Florida Micropolitan areas of Florida Populated places established in 1923