FREEPORT FRIENDS

The Magazine of Grand Bahama.

Discover the remarkable—and often controversial—story of how Wallace Groves helped transform a pine forest into one of the Caribbean’s most ambitious planned cities.

WALLACE GROVES 1901-1988.
Credited with being the founder of Freeport, Groves was a brilliant financier whose career was overshadowed by fraud convictions and organized-crime associations.

A convicted felon with mob ties, he bought Little Whale Cay in The Bahamas and moved there after his release from prison in 1944. While there he bought the struggling Abaco Lumber Company for 50,000 pounds and relocated it to Pine Ridge on Grand Bahama.

In 1954 he sold the company to Owens-Illinois for $4,000,000 cash. Groves used the profit from the sale to develop Freeport, Grand Bahama. With help from some dubious sources he founded and operated the free-trade zone, resort and casino development that became Freeport. His business empire has long been associated with organized crime through alleged financial links to Meyer Lansky and Bahamas Amusements

The signing of the Hawksbill Creek Agreement. Groves, seated left, had his lawyer and friend Stafford Sands (standing left) negotiate a deal with the government which allowed him to buy 211 square miles of GB land, most of it at the unbelievably low price of $2.80 (or one British pound) per acre. This agreement also allowed him special privileges including exemption from almost all taxes for up to 99 years. To organize his empire Groves set up the Grand Bahama Port Authority to create a deep water port, the GB Development Company (Devco) and Bahamas Amusements which controlled all the casinos (read big gambling!).

With the signing of the HCA, Freeport was up and running. Roads were constructed, including the GB Motorway (see photo 1), quickly followed by houses and hotels. As businesses were established the economy boomed. It was an exciting time as Freeport became the place to be, as witnessed by the influx of Hollywood stars!