Gasparilla Island's first inhabitants
were the Calusa Indians.
They were living on nearby Useppa Island by 5,000
B.C. and on Gasparilla Island by 800 or 900 A.D.
Charlotte Harbor was the center of the Calusa
Empire, which numbered thousands of people and
hundreds of fishing villages. The Calusa were a
hunting and fishing people who perfected the art of
maritime living in harmony with the environment.
They were a politically powerful people, dominating
Southwest Florida during their "golden age." Since
the Calusa had no written language, the only record
we have of their lifestyle and ceremonies comes from
the oral history of the (much later) Seminoles, from
written accounts of Spanish explorers, and from the
archaeological record. The first contact the Calusas
had with the white man came during Spanish
explorations at the beginning of the 16th century.
By the mid 1700s the Calusas had all but
disappeared, the victims of European diseases,
slavery and warfare.
Early
Settlers Were Fishermen
Just like the Indians, the earliest settlers came to
Gasparilla Island to fish. By the late 1870s several
fish ranches were operating in the Charlotte Harbor
area. One of them would later be at the north end of
Gasparilla Island in the small village called
Gasparilla. The fishermen, many of them Spanish or
Cuban, caught huge catches of mullet and other fish
and salted them down for shipment to Havana and
other markets. In the 1940s the Gasparilla Fishery
was moved to Placida across the bay, where it still
stands today, and the fishing village died out.
Today, many of Boca Grande's early fishing families
are still represented in third, fourth and even
fifth generation descendants who pursue many
different vocations, including fishing.
Phosphate and Tarpon put Boca Grande on the Map
In 1885 phosphate rock was discovered on the banks
of the Peace River just above Punta Gorda, east of
Gasparilla Island across Charlotte Harbor. It was
this discovery that would turn the south end of
Gasparilla Island into a major deep water port (Boca
Grande Pass is one of the deepest natural inlets in
Florida) and become responsible for the development
of the town of Boca Grande. Wealthy American and
British sportsmen began discovering the Charlotte
Harbor area for its fantastic fishing (notably for
the world class game fish tarpon) and hunting. It
was these two discoveries - phosphate rock and
fishing - that would put Boca Grande "on the map."
Phosphate was a valuable
mineral for fertilizers and many other products, and
was in great demand worldwide. At first the
phosphate was barged down the Peace River to Port
Boca Grande, where it was loaded onto schooners for
worldwide shipment. But by 1905 it was felt that
building a railroad to Port Boca Grande and carrying
the phosphate to it by rail should improve the
method of shipment.
1905 officials of the Agrico
subsidiary Peace River Mining Company, along with
engineers from the U.S. Engineering Corps and 60
laborers, landed on Gasparilla Island and surveying
and construction of the railroad began. Probably the
only buildings on the island at this time were the
lighthouse and the assistant keeper's house at the
extreme southern tip of the island. The railroad
terminus with its 1,000-foot long pier would be
built nearby. The Charlotte Harbor and Northern
Railroad was completed in 1907. For the next 50
years phosphate would be shipped out of the
state-of-the-art port virtually without disruption.
Phosphate laden trains were off loaded directly onto
ocean going freighters, and the ships took the
valuable commodity to ports all over the world. In
1969 Port Boca Grande ranked as the fourth busiest
port in Florida.
In the 1970s phosphate
companies increasingly switched their interest to
ports in Tampa and Manatee County. As more money was
put into developing these ports, traffic into Port
Boca Grande began to dwindle, and in 1979 the line
was abandoned and the phosphate industry in Boca
Grande came to an end. Today the port is used as an
oil terminal of the Florida Power and Light Company.
Soon this too will end, and the southern tip of the
island will be restored to its natural state.
The
Railroad was Boca Grande's Link to the World
The Charlotte Harbor and Northern Railroad not only
brought phosphate and supplies to Gasparilla Island;
it also brought wealthy people from the north. By
1910 Boca Grande Pass was already famous for its
unequaled tarpon fishing among fishermen, who stayed
on nearby Useppa Island. The Agrico Company, having
begun to see the potential of the idea of developing
Gasparilla Island beyond the port, began to develop
the village of Boca Grande.
The railroad station in what
would become downtown was built; roads, sidewalks,
streetlights, shops, a post office, and water and
telephone service were not far behind. The town was
landscaped, including the now famous section of
Second Street called Banyan Street. The railroad
company built several cottages downtown and a few
wealthy families from "up north" purchased land and
built winter residences. The train stopped at
Gasparilla, the fishing village at the north end of
the island, at the railroad depot in downtown Boca
Grande, and at the south end phosphate terminal.
In 1929 the Boca Grande Hotel
was built just south of downtown Boca Grande. It was
a three-story, brick resort hotel where most of the
island weathered the hurricane of 1944. The Boca
Grande Hotel changed hands and was demolished in
1975. I t
took six months to raze the building by means of
fire and the wrecking ball, as it had been built to
withstand fire and great storms.
The railroad continued to bring
the grand visitors from all along the eastern
seaboard until the Boca Grande Causeway opened in
1958. The depot was restored in the 1970s and a
number of shops, offices and a restaurant now occupy
the old building. The railroad continued to run work
trains to the south end until the phosphate port
closed in 1979. The Gasparilla Island Conservation
and Improvement Association transformed the old bed
of the railroad into a new use, Boca Grande's
popular Bike Path. Boca Grande has become a unique
community, with a large number of wealthy winter
residents rubbing elbows with the fishermen and
railroad and port workers who formed the permanent,
year-round working |
