Historical Postcard Gallery

Boca Grande residents, watch your mailboxes for our postcards! In celebration of our 75th Anniversary, we have created a series of historical postcards that will arrive between January-April 2022. We will continue adding the postcard designs to this page as we mail them.

Postcard 1: 1947

Louise DuPont Crowninshield

Louise E. duPont Crowninshield establishes the Boca Grande Health Clinic on March 15, 1947, in a small room above the Railroad Depot where a doctor arriving on the train would treat patients weekly. Louise first came to Boca Grande in 1917. She spent 40 winters of her life here and in that time, touched the lives of nearly everyone on the Island.

Postcard 2: 1948

San Marco Theatre

In 1948, Clinic Secretary Roger Amory makes a gift of the San Marco Theatre on Park Avenue to benefit the health clinic. With his gift, the Clinic is woven into the fabric of community life and was able to generate funds on a year-round basis. It was Roger’s intention that the principal and interest would be used solely for the purpose of increasing the medical services available to the people of Boca Grande.

Postcard 3: 1949

Fugate’s

In 1949, the Boca Grande Health Clinic sets up shop in a space on the west side of the Fugate building on 4th Street. The Clinic pays Jerome Fugate (a founding member of the Clinic) $1,200 in rent each year and remains there until 1963.

Postcard 4: 1961

Buick Premier Ambulance

With the Clinic’s finances shored up thanks to community donations, focus resumes on improving services. In May the Clinic receives a 1952 Buick ambulance complete with stretcher, oxygen, and equipment from the Edward R. Ponger funeral home in Punta Gorda, and a fleet of volunteers is organized to man the vehicle in times of emergency.

Postcard 5: 1964

Boca Grande Health Clinic Annex

After two years of construction, an empty lot on the corner of 3rd street and Park Avenue becomes the site of a new health clinic that’s the envy of the medical profession. The building houses the Clinic for 26 years and remains the home of the Clinic annex and the Boca Grande Health Clinic Foundation today.

Postcard 6: 1990

A new building for a new time!

The building of a new and improved Boca Grande Health Clinic begins in January of 1990. Designed by architect George Palermo, the Spanish-style building is completed and ready for occupancy by December 1990. The new clinic building becomes a symbol of the Clinic’s mission to serve the present and future needs of the Boca Grande community while retaining the unique character and personal, caring attention that has been its legacy.