FREEPORT

town, southwestern shore of Grand Bahama island, The Bahamas. In 1955 the colonial Bahamian government entered into the so-called Hawksbill Creek Agreement with the newly created Grand Bahama Port Authority Limited (headed by an American lumber financier, Wallace Groves), which was pledged to plan, construct, and administer a Port Area (Freeport) and to license businesses and industries therein in exchange for various tax exemptions and privileges for 99 years. (Subsequent amendments revised the prerogatives of the Port Authority, but it still remains.) So successful was the venture that the population of Freeport, 150 persons in 1956, multiplied more than a hundredfold in the coming decades, and the town and neighbouring resorts drew about 500,000 tourists a year in the late 20th century. Freeport is the site of hotels, golf courses, developed beaches, one of the world's largest casinos, and the International Bazaar, which houses a variety of exotic duty-free shops. Freeport is also the location of a giant petrochemical transshipment complex and of banks catering to foreign financial interests. Pop. (1980 prelim.) 25,423. city, seat (1837) of Stephenson county, northwestern Illinois, U.S., on the Pecatonica River. Founded in 1835, it was settled by Pennsylvania Germans disappointed with the conditions in the Galena lead-mining district, 40 miles (64 km) west. The settlement (called Winneshiek) supposedly became known as Free Port because of a protest by the wife of William Baker, a trader, who freely entertained travelers. With the coming of the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad (1853), followed by the Illinois Central and Racine and Mississippi railroads, Freeport developed as a trading and shipping point for agricultural produce. Its economic base has diversified to include light manufacturing and a sizeable insurance industry. On Aug. 27, 1858, Freeport was the scene of the second LincolnDouglas debate, during which Stephen Douglas formulated the Freeport Doctrine that a territory had the right to exclude slavery in spite of contrary Supreme Court decisions. Lincoln the Debater, a statue by Leonard Crunelle in Taylor Park, commemorates the debate. Highland Community College was established in 1961 in Freeport. A farm museum is maintained by the Stephenson County Historical Society. Inc. 1855. Pop. (1990) 25,840. city, Brazoria county, southeastern Texas, U.S., at the mouth of the Brazos River, on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, 60 miles (97 km) south of Houston. Founded in 1912 by exploiters of local sulfur deposits, it was developed as a deepwater port and now forms part of the industrial complex of Brazosport. It processes and exports chemicals and gasoline. Commercial fishing (shrimp) is also significant. A large-scale saltwater conversion plant is immediately east. Velasco, which served as temporary capital of the Texas Republic and where the treaty concluding the Texas Revolution was signed (1836), was annexed by Freeport in 1957. A lighthouse (1896) is at the river's mouth. Inc. 1949. Pop. (1991 est.) 11,632.