Tom Phillips 1st Gulf Shore Casino

When Tom Phillips installed the 1st bridge over Matanzas Pass in 1921. He charge roughly 50 cents a car. Sometime there would be 200 cars a day. The first Casino in Fort Myers Beach was built by Tom Phillips in 1921 at 1270 Estero Blvd which included a gulf pier near the Phillips Casino. It was a 70 X 70 beachfront two story building. It would later become the Gulfshore Inn. The casino had a dance floor, and orchestra. He also built the Phillips-Fielder Pavillion and Bathhouse. The casinos brought power generation and many improvements to the early beach lifestyle. http://shuckersfmb.com/

The Gulf Shore Casino had the distinction of great food, drink and dancing. The "Gulf Shore" was built by Tom Phillips but was first known as Pete Nelson's "Crescent Beach Casino" when Estero Island was called Crescent Beach, until 1925. Built originally as a bathing casino with rentals of a bathhouse, swimsuit and towel. He also sold hot dogs and hamburgers to visitors parked along the wide shoreline, as seen above.

Later additions included a gambling casino with dance floor, becoming a restaurant after the 1926 hurricane. In 1930 the name changed to "Gulf Shore Inn" when rental rooms were added, and became popular with winter visitors. During the 1940's, it was home to officers stationed in town during WWII, and after the 1944 hurricane, as seen above. Hurricane repairs and construction were completed with more remodeling after the relentless "no name" storms in the 1950's and Hurricane Donna in 1960.

By 1997 another name change occurred when "The Cottage" next door was acquired and named just that, as an indoor/outdoor bar with deck adjacent to the original dining room. It was renamed "The Gulf Shore Grill" and today both remain with the same familiar beachside view, riding out Hurricane Charlie in 2004 and other nuisance storms on the more recently renourished Gulf shore in 2011.