Real Estate in Sarasota, Florida.

Sarasota

Sarasota first became a “modern” town when the it was promoted in Scotland by the Florida Mortgage and Investment Company in 1885. It was a breath of fresh air, promising an abundance of fertile land, plentiful citrus groves, and affordable housing. Scottish families looking for a new start boarded steamer ships and set sail for Sarasota.

Unfortunately, upon their arrival, the town was little more than a frontier camp. Needless to say, most of them left. But among the hardy souls who stayed to complete their dream was John Hamilton Gillespie, a Scottish aristocrat, lawyer, and member of the Queen’s Bodyguard for Scotland. It was this man who is believed to have built America’s first golf course, in Sarasota. Quite an entrepreneur, Mr. Gillespie also built the upscale DeSoto Hotel on Main Street for tourists and prospective investors. For his efforts, he was later elected as Sarasota’s first mayor in 1902.

As early as the 1910s, Sarasota began attracting some of America’s most wealthy, who, with their own style, helped to define the county of Sarasota. Today’s Historic Spanish Point was once the posh waterfront winter estate and gardens of Bertha Palmer, widow of Chicago developer Potter Palmer. What is now Myakka River State Park was once Palmer’s 30,000-acre ranch called Meadowsweet Pastures.

John Ringling, of Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, made his mark on the community with much flair. He and his wife Mable needed a place to house their ever-growing collection of works by Peter Paul Reubens and other masters of 17th-century Italian and Flemish art. Today we know that collection as the John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art, one of America’s most famous art museums.

As a developer and dreamer, Ringling used his circus elephants to help build the first bridge from the mainland to St. Armands Key, which he developed as a commercial and residential center. In 1927, the circus’ winter quarters were moved to Sarasota—branding the area as a “circus town.”

Laid-back Siesta Key has the feel of a tropical island, with sugar white sand officially designated "the whitest, finest beach sand in the world." Tom's family still lives there.

The 2004 population of Sarasota was estimated at 353,387, and the city of Sarasota was 54,639.

Compiled from: “Sarasota Over My Shoulder,” by Janet Snyder Matthews, www.sarasotachamber.org, the Sarasota County Department of Historical Resources and www.sarasotafl.org.


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