Spanish fishermen first sailed their smacks into Charlotte Harbor in the 18th century, beginning a commercial fishing industry. Cuban fishermen controlled the business for more than 200 years until the United States took possession of Florida in 1821 and began laying claim to its territorial waters. In 1886, the railroad arrived at Trabue (Punta Gorda) and an ice factory was built. By the 1890s, Punta Gorda had one of the largest commercial fishing industries in Florida. The businesses first operated from the Long Dock, then in 1897 the industry relocated to the Railroad Dock at the foot of King Street, now U.S. 41 North, and remained there until moving to the Maud Street Dock in 1928. Fish shacks built on stilts over the water served as ice houses and bunkhouses, and runboats carried fish, ice, and fishermen back and forth. At its height, the industry caught and processed thousands of tons of fish each year, but as commercial fishing spread throughout Florida, Punta Gorda's role declined, and the last of the old fishing businesses, the Punta Gorda Fish Company, ceased operation in 1977.