The indigenous Lucayan people’s name for the island was Bahama (‘large upper middle island’). Grand Bahama’s existence for almost two centuries was largely governed by the nature of the treacherous coral reefs surrounding the island, which repelled its Spanish claimants while attracting pirates, who would lure ships onto the reefs where they would run aground and be plundered. The Spaniards took little interest in the island after enslaving the native Lucayan inhabitants.
In 1670, Charles II of England issued a land patent, granting the Bahamas to the eight Lords Proprietors of the Carolinas. By 1828, Grand Bahama remained almost unpopulated. A brief smuggling boom occurred during the years of prohibition in the United States, when West End, Grand Bahama, and Bimini served as waystations for illicit imports of liquor to the U.S.
The major settlement that developed on the island was Freeport-Lucaya, but other hamlets and settlements emerged, including Russell Town, Williams Town, Smith’s Point, Mather Town, Pinder’s Point, Lewis Yard, Hunter’s, and Mack Town.
By the mid-20th century, Grand Bahama was one of the least developed of the Bahamas’ islands. In 1955, a Virginian financier named Wallace Groves began redevelopment with the Bahamian government to build the city of Freeport under the Hawksbill Creek Agreement and create the Grand Bahama Port Authority.
Soon after, the ambitious Edward St. George, with the financial help of Sir Jack Hayward, took the company to new frontiers. Seeing the success of Cuba as a tourist destination for wealthy Americans, St. George was eager to develop Grand Bahama in a similar vein. The city grew rapidly, with St. George adding a harbour, an airport soon after the city was founded, and the tourist centre of Port Lucaya in 1962.
Places
Postcards
1965 – Max Basker & Sons (P64900 Series)
1965 – Calypso Distributors Ltd (P64900 Series – Type B)
1968 – Dexter Press Inc (DT-33700-C Series)
