Aerial survey · USDA NAIP · public domainThe 1911 schoolhouse at Second and Jackson, now a Lee County School Board annex, named in one tour account as the haunt of a teacher and a child
2253 2nd St, Fort Myers, FL 33901
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Active Lee County School Board annex; not open to the public. Exterior viewing from the public sidewalk is free.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Level downtown sidewalk at the corner of Second and Jackson Streets
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1911 · Early Fort Myers Public School · Named for Colonel Andrew D. Gwynne · Opened October 19, 1911
The Andrew D. Gwynne Institute was Fort Myers' answer to inadequate public schooling in the growing town. It was named for Colonel Andrew D. Gwynne, a wealthy Tennessee cotton broker and grocer whose family contributed several thousand dollars toward its construction. The building was completed at a total cost of about $45,000 and opened on October 19, 1911, at the corner of Second and Jackson Streets.
When it opened, the institute was a state-of-the-art facility for the period: ten classrooms, a principal's office, a library, a 500-seat auditorium, indoor restrooms, drinking fountains, and radiant heat. It held grades one through twelve from 1911 and was reportedly overcrowded almost immediately. A separate high school building was constructed in 1914 to relieve the pressure.
The building has outlasted its original role. After decades of use as a school it became an administrative annex for the School Board of Lee County, which is its current function. It remains at its original Second-and-Jackson corner as one of the older surviving institutional buildings in downtown Fort Myers.
Sources
The building's ghost reputation comes from a single source: a 2017 firsthand write-up of a Fort Myers haunted-history tour by historian Michael Kleen. In it, the former school is described as allegedly haunted by the ghosts of a former schoolteacher and a young child. The account also relays a guide's remark about being unsettled by photographs said to show figures in the building's windows.
No names are attached to the teacher or the child in the account, and no documented incident is cited as the origin of the story. The claim has not been corroborated by independent paranormal write-ups, which is why this entry is held for review rather than published.
Because the building is an active School Board annex, there is no public investigation access and no tour-operated overnight program. Anyone interested can view the exterior from the sidewalk; the haunting story rests entirely on the one tour account.
The Gwynne Institute building stands at the corner of Second and Jackson Streets and is viewable from the public sidewalk. The 1911 schoolhouse keeps its early-twentieth-century institutional form. It is an active School Board annex, so the interior is not accessible to visitors.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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