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 Despite
being located on one of the prettiest bays in America
and having weather that any Northerner would envy,
Sarasota County scarcely grew in all its early years.
The name may derive from a Spanish term, "sarao sota,"
meaning, "a place of dancing."
In 1842, William Whittaker homesteaded in the area
known as Yellow Bluffs / Sarasota. He planted orange
trees. Some other settlers followed him, but numerous
indian attacks kept many settlers away.
In 1884, 60 Scottish families arrived to set up a
colony. Two years later a golf course was built and,
with golf and fishing, the town of Sarasota was in the
tourism business.
But transportation was unavailable. Sailing ships and
steamboats connected the tiny town with the outside
world. An early and crude railroad connected Sarasota
to Bradenton, to the north. Passengers would ride on
flat cars carrying freight, until the railroad
employees broke up the track during a wage dispute.
In 1902, a serious railroad reached Sarasota,
connecting it to Tampa and to the outside world for
the first time. It took another 7 years for the
arrival of electricity and a paved road to Bradenton.
The railroad brought many visitors and a few settlers
to Sarasota. One of the settlers was John Ringling,
head of a circus family. Ringling bought property all
around Sarasota and moved his circus' winter home
here. Despite being one of the wealthiest men in the
country, Ringling just didn't manage his finances
well. Upon his death, the State of Florida acquired
his mansion, his art museum, his circus museum and an
adjacent college, as part of an estate settlement.
In 1911, Mrs. Potter Palmer, a wealthy Chicago society
matron, bought 26,000 acres of land, mostly for citrus
and vegetable farming. She enthused Real Estate
developers for years with her quote "Here is heaven at
last. It reminds me of the Bay of Naples".
In 1921, Sarasota County divided itself from Manatee
County, with the city of Sarasota designated the
county seat. In the Florida land boom of 1924-1927,
the population doubled, tourist hotels and recreation
facilities sprouted up, a causeway was built across
the bay and the offshore islands started to be
developed.
Getting in on the boom, the Brotherhood of Locomotive
Engineers, capitalizing on their own jobs, bought
30,000 acres around a whistle stop south of Sarasota,
built hotels, a bank, a theater, and an entire
business district, and created Venice.
Sarasota County today has trendy shops in Venice and
on St. Armand's Key, luxurious retirement homes, a
bustling rehabilitated Main Street shopping and
business district in Sarasota, acre upon acre of
orange groves in the interior, and a growing base of
environmentally sensitive commerce. It's what most
people think of when they think of Florida.
Contact Us
for more info.
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