 World War II introduced hundreds of servicemen to Naples and Collier County when the U.S. Army Air Field (now Naples Airport) was built in 1943 to train pilots for air-to-air combat over Europe and the Pacific. At the height of the war, several hundred men and 75 aircraft were assigned to the Naples base. A smaller airstrip was also established at Immokalee in 1942 for emergency landings. Many veterans returned after the war to live here permanently and to start new businesses. A direct hit by Hurricane Donna in 1960 actually stimulated Naples' growth with an infusion of insurance money and loans. In the short space of a single generation, Collier County has passed from a sparsely settled frontier to the 19th most populous county in the state. The number of County residents swelled from 6,488 in 1950 to over 85,000 by 1980. The County seat was transferred from Everglades City to East Naples in 1962 and signalled a new era of sustained growth in agriculture, tourism, and real estate that have made Collier County one of the fastest developing areas in the nation.  
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