Gasparilla Light Postcard

Port Boca Grande Light was first lit on December 31, 1890. It is a two-story frame dwelling raised on iron screw-piles, with the lantern placed in a cupola at the peak of the roof. The keeper lived in the lighthouse. A similar house (without a lantern) built next to it was the assistant keeper's dwelling. The Port Boca Grande Light originally served ships transporting cattle from ports on Charlotte Harbor to Cuba. Phosphate ore from the Peace River area became an important cargo in the 1890s, and an extension of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad to Port Boca Grande in 1909 resulted in increased traffic. Ship traffic to Port Boca Grande peaked at more than 30 ships a day during World War II, when Port Boca Grande served as a safe harbor for shipping in the Gulf.