Good schools are always important when buying a new home in
Sarasota or any community for that matter. I attended school here in Sarasota
from grade one in 1950 all the way through high school graduation as I reminisced
in a previous blog post. But the schools I went to were by far not the oldest. Here’s
a little history!
Sarasota's first school, built around 1878, was located on
the south side of Main Street east of Pineapple Avenue next door to the old
Kress Building. It was a small, one-room building 16 feet wide and 25 feet and
the children sat on homemade benches and desks that were quite different from
those in present times. In 1899, a two-room school was built on 8th Street between the railroad and Central Avenue
(what was then 8th Street is now 2nd Second Street). By
the winter of 1903-1904 the school was badly overcrowded. A new building was
constructed for $3,900 during the summer of 1904. Sources are conflicting as to
the location of the building. One source says the school was located on Main
Street east of Pine. Another source says the school was erected on Golf Street
on the future site of Central School in 1936, where the downtown U.S. Post
Office was later located. The two-story building contained four classrooms on
the first floor and one classroom and an auditorium on the second floor. That
school opened September 19, 1904 with an enrollment of 124 students.
During the spring and summer of 1913, a new brick building
was built at a total cost of $23,000. School trustees predicted that the
building's 11 classrooms and its auditorium would fulfill Sarasota's needs for
at least ten years. The old frame building constructed in 1904 was sold and
moved off the lot. When classes opened September 15, 1913, 200 girls and 153
boys were enrolled. The following fall it was decided to add two more grades
and make the school a full-fledged high school as well as an elementary school…It
seems that this is when Sarasota High School actually began. The old frame
building which the new brick building had replaced was brought back and put to
use. Located in back of the new brick building, it housed the younger children.
By 1927 Sarasota was once again in need of a new school
building. School began on Tuesday, September 6, 1927, in a huge new building,
which is now fondly referred to as "the Old Building". Several
available figures conflict as to the cost of the building. Prices range from
$317,000 to $345,000 to half a million dollars.
The 57,000 square foot building opened its doors to students
from the 7th-12th grade in the fall of 1927 and flourished for almost 70 years.
In 1984, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Although the “Old Building” school closed its doors in 1996, my wife and I and other members
of the community felt attached to the building and we were inspired along with
others to champion a new purpose.
Fast-forward to 2002, the start of a two-year
process of community involvement and consensus-building known as the Sarasota
High School New Life Initiative. Funders of the New Life Initiative included
the School Board, the City of Sarasota, Sarasota County, the Selby Foundation,
the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and private donors. More than 200
potential uses of the 93 year old historic building were considered. In October 2004, the School Board voted to lease the
historic Sarasota High School building to Ringling College of Art and Design to
transform the building into the 27 million dollar Sarasota Art Museum. Fast forward (through a lot of challenges!) to December 2019...the doors are now OPEN and it is stunning!
I taught Computer Basics in that old building for several years (anyone remember DOS?!) and my wife graduated from SHS. Her sister also graduated from SHS and went on to achieve three Bachelor Degrees in Art in college thanks to her art teacher at SHS who inspired her. Liz was on the fund-raising committee which successfully raised 2.5 million dollars towards keeping the Sarasota High School name as part of the new museum. It is appropriately named “The SHS Alumni Auditorium”.
Today, the Sarasota High School
historic building has been given a new life as a modern art museum. As hometown
Sarasotans, we are grateful that this memorable educational institution will be
preserved and be a place to be enjoyed for many years to come and that the
historic Sarasota High School "Old" building will continue to be a central part of
this community and will continue to focus on education.
If you are considering moving to Sarasota and buying a new home, our school system has an outstanding reputation. Contact me at RE/MAX Alliance Group and we will start your search for a new home and a great school!
