Ave Maria, Florida
planned community in Collier County, Florida, United States
Ave Maria, Florida, is a planned community and census-designated place (CDP) located in Collier County, Florida, United States, consisting of approximately 5,000 acres (2,023 ha). The population was 6,242 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Naples-Marco Island, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area.
The community was founded in 2005 by Ave Maria Development, a partnership of Barron Collier Companies and the Ave Maria Foundation led by Roman Catholic entrepreneur Tom Monaghan, founder of Domino's Pizza and Ave Maria University, which is located in the heart of town. Along with shops and restaurants, the town square also features the Ave Maria parish church with steel arches and a 30-foot-tall marble carving of the Annunciation. As of 2023 Ave Maria was the fastest growing community in the United States that was founded in the 21st century.
History
Ave Maria was founded in 2005 by Ave Maria Development, a partnership consisting of Barron Collier Companies and the Ave Maria Foundation led by Tom Monaghan, a Catholic entrepreneur and founder of Domino's Pizza and Ave Maria University. The development of the town was made possible when the Florida legislature created the Ave Maria Stewardship Community District, a limited local government whose purpose is to provide community infrastructure. The town was the first to develop under the Rural Lands Stewardship Area (RLSA) program. 2025 marked the 20th anniversary of Ave Maria's groundbreaking.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Ave Maria, Florida” as planned community in Collier County, Florida, United States. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as planned community in Collier County, Florida, United States. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q790314. Authority coordinates are 26.337, -81.438. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2020, 2005, 2023 and 2025.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Ave Maria, Florida”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Ave Maria, Florida primary sources, Ave Maria, Florida archive and Maria research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Ave Maria, Florida”?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Ave Maria, Florida” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.