Our first church service was held
on December 1, 1957 in a private home in Punta Gorda, Florida. Services
continued there until April 13, 1958, when we began to meet in the American
Legion Hall.
The group was recognized by The Mother
Church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist,
in Boston, Massachusetts, as "Christian Science Society, Punta
Gorda, Florida" on July 27, 1961. The Society moved to the Punta
Gorda Woman's Club on September 26, 1961, where services were held until
the edifice at 240 Tamiami Trail, NW, Port Charlotte was purchased on
July 3, 1964.
In April 1969, the Society became
"First Church of Christ, Scientist, Port Charlotte, Florida"
and dedicatory services were held on March 12, 1972. A Reading Room
was established and housed in the church edifice until the fall of 1976,
when a new Reading Room was opened in the Promenades Mall.
Construction
of the edifice on Iliade Avenue was completed by late summer
of 1981. The first service was held on September 13 of that year and
dedicatory services were held on January 20, 1985.
In September 1986, the Reading Room
was moved to Morgan Manor, where it remained until its relocation to
the Carrousel Mall, Murdock, in July 1989.
With the sale of part of the
Carrousel property, and demolition of the Reading Room building,
in the Spring of 2004 the Reading Room was housed in the Church.
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