Florida Historical Markers Programs - Marker Detail

Description: The First Baptist Church of Boca Grande is the oldest church building on Gasparilla Island and housed one of the island’s two oldest congregations. In the early 1900s, phosphate companies decided to use the port of Boca Grande as a primary shipping point. The Seaboard Airline Railroad laid track to the southernmost tip of the island, and soon the island’s population grew enough to support a ministry. In 1909, the First Baptist Church was organized. At first, services were held outdoors conducted by circuit riding preachers twice a month. Between 1911 and 1912, a building committee was organized. Construction of the church was funded by a loan from the Florida Southern Baptist Missions Board and by congregational donations. In 1915, the church, an example of balloon-frame Carpenter Gothic style architecture, was completed. The Seaboard railroad donated a locomotive’s bell for the church that is still in use today. In 1928, the building was enlarged to accommodate Sunday school classrooms, and in 1934, a parsonage was built as a residence for a full-time pastor. In 2009, the First Baptist Church celebrated its 100th anniversary and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.