The Algiers was originally a car ferry operating on the Mississippi River. After 25 years of service it was sold at auction in 1958 to Helen and Lathrop Brown. The Browns were a wealthy couple from the east; Lathrop Brown was a former congressman from New York, Franklin Roosevelt’s college roommate and best man at his wedding. Helen Brown was a shipping heiress.
In 1959 the Browns brought the Algiers to a 25-acre plot of Sanibel beach-front property they had purchased. To reach the property they had workers cut a channel through the island’s interior which was filled in after the 150-foot ferry passed through. With a huge paddle wheel, feathered smoke stacks, thirteen rooms, five baths, pool, restaurant-quality kitchen and gold bath fixtures the Algiers was a whimsical marvel.
Before moving to their new home the Browns wanted to sell an existing home in Ft. Lauderdale. Helen sent Lathrop back to the east coast to sell the house but while there he contracted an illness and died. Helen left Sanibel and never returned. In 1981 she sold the beach-front property to the newly incorporated city of Sanibel for $550,000.
The Algiers sat neglected and decaying on its Gulf-front property for 23 years until 1982 when it was finally stripped of anything salvageable that could be auctioned. Three pieces of the ferry, the captain’s wheel, the anchor and the bell are on display at the Sanibel Historical Village.
Today the 25-acre plot of beach-front property is home to Gulfside Park and what was once vacant land, directly on the beach is now a prime spot for beach-front condominiums.
Now, as then, Sanibel Island is a special place for special people.
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