Florida Historical Markers Programs - Marker Detail

Description: The building now known as the Captiva Chapel-by-the-Sea was built in 1901 as a one-room schoolhouse by the Lee County Board of Public Instruction. William Binder, the first settler to establish a homestead on Captiva, donated the land. As it was the first school on Captiva, students from the island, nearby Sanibel, and Buck Key attended classes here. Area families also used the space as their primary house of worship. A new schoolhouse was erected in 1918, and the Captiva School closed. In 1921, the Methodist Church purchased the building for use as a mission church. A separate minister’s study was built in 1926 to replace a structure destroyed by the Great Miami Hurricane. The Captiva Civic Association, by agreement with the Methodist Church, took over operation of the building in 1947. The Methodist Church deeded the property in 1954 to Captiva Chapel-by-the-Sea, which manages and operates it as an interdenominational church. The parsonage building was designed by noted architect Leon R. Levy, and built in 1965. This 1901 building remains the oldest school house in Lee County on its original site and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013.