Island History Tells Stories of Many Schools

The Island School is the descendant of several schools that preceded it. The first school dates from 1893 and was located in a frame building on fourth street between Park and Gilchrist. The same building may also have been used as a church. A second school was housed in a bunk house at Gasparilla Village at the north end of the island and served the families of the commercial fishermen who lived there. At this time the only access to Gasparilla Island was by boat.

About 1911 construction of a new school on Gilchrist near First Street began. By this time, the American Agricultural Chemical Company had built the railroad to move phosphate from its mines in central Florida to the new port at the south end of Gasparilla Island and established the island’s third community Port Boca Grande. The new school served the children who lived at the Port and in Boca Grande.  By 1916 a small schoolhouse was also built at Gasparilla Village.

The school building on Gilchrist was two stories built of wood, painted yellow and housed two classrooms and a bathroom on each floor. Drinking water came from large cypress tanks which stored rainwater caught on the building’s roof.  The school educated students through the eighth grade. Students who continued their educations did so at boarding schools or lived with family or friends in Arcadia or Fort Myers and attended public schools. In 1929 a new school was built on First Street and the Gilchrist building was razed. It is thought that some of the materials from the Gilchrist building were used in the construction of the Teacherage, the building that today houses Boca Bargains and the History Center. The Teacherage housed the school principal and his family in one apartment and one or more teachers in the other. 

The new school (today it’s the Community Center) was U-shaped built in the Spanish style on land donated by Francis and Louise Crowninshield. Residents of the island contributed to the construction through a bond issue with the Crowninshields providing much of the financing. The building cost $33,492. There were six classrooms, two offices, two bathrooms and an auditorium. Elementary students had classrooms in the west wing and high school classes were in the east wing. In 1936 two more classrooms were added.

In the 1930’s as many as 150 students attended the school coming from Gasparilla Village, Port Boca Grande, the town of Boca Grande, and via the school boat Cayo Costa, Punta Blanca, Cabbage Key and other points on Charlotte Harbor. The first high school class graduated in 1933 and consisted of two students. The last class to graduate was in 1963 although the elementary school continued until 1965.

The other school on the island was for black children. Located at the south end of the island, it was first in a rented church and later in a building constructed for $1900 on 2 acres of land financed by the Joseph Rosenwald Fund and by a subscription sheet passed by Louise Crowninshield among the wealthy families and visitors to the island. 

One of its students, Florence Jelks, credits Mrs. Crowninshield with providing food for school lunches and educational materials not supplied by Lee County. The school educated students through the eighth grade after which students boarded with families or friends in Arcadia or other parts of Charlotte or Lee counties. The school closed in 1965.

The island was without a school until 2000 when The Island School, a public charter school for kindergarten through fifth grade, was founded. The school employs 17 teachers and staff and educates 60 children who live on the island or whose parents work on the island.