The birth of Freeport (Part One)

OSWALD BROWN writes...

(In slightly under two years, the magic city of Freeport will be celebrating its golden anniversary. This is the first of a three-part reflection on the birth and early years of The Bahamas' second largest city.)

The original Hawksbill Creek Agreement that paved the way for the birth and development of Freeport is an extraordinary document. Signed August 4, 1955, it granted sweeping powers to the "founders" of Freeport, virtually assuring them full autonomy over the area they were planning to develop.

Here is an excerpt from that Agreement: "...That all roads and bridges constructed by the Port Authority or any Licensee within the Port Area shall be deemed to be private roads and bridges and that the Port Authority shall have the absolute right to exclude any person and vehicle (other than an officer or employee or vehicle of the Government) from using the same, and to exclude any person (other than an officer or employee of the Government) from the Port Area or any part thereof without assigning any reason therefor..."

Some old-timers insist that in the early days of Freeport's development, this section of the agreement was used for racial purposes to control the number of black Bahamians moving in and out of the Freeport area. In fact, some of them steadfastly maintain that gates were physically set up for this purpose at certain entry points to the Port area.

Others, however, have rejected this claim as hogwash. Indeed, although it may be true that "check points" may have been established on certain roads leading in and out of Freeport in the early days, they were primarily to prevent the duty-free concessions granted to the Port Authority on "bonded items" from being abused by residents of the outlying settlements. To be sure, this was a very serious problem at the time. Some items imported into Freeport under "bond" reportedly often ended up in business establishments or homes in surrounding settlements outside the Port area.

But the fact remains that even if the gates were put up to keep certain persons out, the Port Authority, based on the powers given it by the Hawksbill Creek Agreement, had every right to do so. Nonetheless, no matter how much one may disagree with the immense powers given to the developers of Freeport by the then government of The Bahamas, it is hard to imagine where this country would be economically today without the development of Freeport. Granted, tourism would still be the cornerstone of the country's economy, but more likely than not it would not be anywhere near the level it is at today if Freeport had not been developed.

For this, of course, we owe a great deal of thanks to the late Sir Stafford Lofthouse Sands. Freeport as a popular tourist destination was not among the initial goals of Wallace Groves, the founder of Freeport, when he established the Grand Bahama Port Authority. Developing tourism, however, at the time may well have been part of the long-range plan of Sir Stafford, who was then chairman of the Bahamas Development Board, a forerunner to the Ministry of Tourism, when he persuaded his colleagues in the government to grant Mr. Groves 50,000 acres of crown land in the Hawksbill Creek area of Grand Bahama at what was then the equivalent of $2.80 cents per acre.

Politically, many Bahamians today still regard Sir Stafford as one of the major opponents of the struggle for majority rule by black Bahamians in the 1950s and 1960s, but there is no denying the fact that he was a tireless promoter of The Bahamas and was the architect of this country's year-round mass tourism programme.

Sir Stafford put the considerable skills he possessed in this area to use in assisting Mr. Groves in revising his dream for the development of Freeport after his initial plan to establish an industrial mecca seemed to be moving at an inordinately slow pace. The focus was shifted to tourism, and the centrepiece of the proposal to develop Freeport as a tourist resort was the introduction of big-time legalized gambling. For this purpose, with Sir Stafford's assistance, Bahamas Amusements Limited was formed on March 20, 1963.

The events surrounding this period of Freeport's development are well documented in a scholarly book written by Alan A. Block, a professor in the Administration of Justice Department of The Pennsylvania State University, who notes that Groves' partner in the casino venture was Louis Arthur Chesler of Toronto, Canada.

Within "just a week or so" after it was formed, Block notes, Bahamas amusements limited was "granted a Certificate of Exemption giving it exclusive authority to operate casinos on Grand Bahama for 10 years."

"The grant of the certificate did not come easy or inexpensively," Block writes. "In the period just prior to its passage, there was some noticeable fear over the matter on the part of Sands, Wallace Groves and Chesler. Their misgivings were centered on whether or not the Executive Council (composed of Sir Roland Symonette, Leader of the Government; Eugene A.P. Dupuch; Sir Stafford Sands, chairman of the Development Board; Dr. R.W. Sawyer, a member of the Health Board and its former Chairman; D.E. D'Albenas, and C. Trevor Kelly) would vote a positive recommendation to the governor."

Block claims that to "grease the wheel of Bahamian progress," consultancy agreements were worked out with several members of the Executive Council, and on the morning of March 28, 1964, "Sands phoned Groves with the news that the certificate had been approved by the Executive Council."

This paved the way for the opening of Grand Bahama's first casino at the then Lucayan Beach Resort.

Oswald T. Brown has worked for newspapers in the United States, England and The Bahamas for some 40 years. He can be reached at androsboy@hotmail.com.

© 2003 The Freeport News