The Street Where You Live-Some History

I grew up on the north side of Sarasota amongst the banyan trees, near the Ringling Museum. My wife and I frequently take drives there and throughout Sarasota to see the new developments and reminisce about the old homesteads and streets where we lived and played. Sarasota can be at times, a challenging place to find your way around so we got curious about street names and the history surrounding them.

Downtown Sarasota has super-cute street names named after tropical fruits like Orange, Lemon and Pineapple Street. And then there are the numbered streets and those streets that don’t seem to go through and then pick up again further on. I found a great explanation of all this written by Don Smally, a well-known builder and engineer, in Sarasota’s History Alive newsletter and I quote the article here:

Growth in the metropolitan Sarasota area was putting a burden on the Post Office because of the duplication of street names. Mosby’s work preparing new property maps presented an opportunity to correct the street-naming problem. The Post Master, Gordon Higel asked the County to help him straighten out the mess that existed and to allow him to control the naming of new streets. I was asked to work with him. There were duplications and inconsistencies in numbering that also needed correcting. We devised the following plan: 

• East-West thoroughfares would be renamed 'Streets'
• North-South thoroughfares would be renamed Avenues
• 7th became 1st Street
• The old 5th became State Street
• Roads would remain Roads

There were complaints. “Avenue” sounded classy, while "Street" sounded ordinary. “Why should I have to change my street name from 12th to 6th Street?” "Why should I have to change my address from 2604 to 1804?” The Postmaster prevailed, the changes were made, and all new developments followed the new method of naming new streets. Another major change had to do with the requirement of naming any through road that lined up with existing roads to use the same name, even though miles might separate the two. An example was Beneva Road which had stretches and gaps and was called Oriente north of Fruitville Road. Starting at 17th Street (which used to be 23rd Street) Beneva was the name down to U.S. 41 at Vamo Road. An exception was made for Swift Road. It was allowed to remain even though it lined up with Tuttle Avenue. There was confusion for a while but eventually everyone got used to the new system.

And then there is a lot of old history of our streets names based on landowners and developers ‘way back when.” Examples are the Bertha Palmer family, (Palmer Blvd, Honore Ave., Webber St., Lockwood) and the Burns family who arrived in 1910. Owen Burns closely followed Bertha Palmer to Sarasota and with two purchases, he quickly became the largest landholder within what now is the city, therefore many of the huge Sarasota properties she owned are in what now is Sarasota County (which did not exist during her lifetime). Many of its roads bear the names she put on the trails she established. She did participate, however, in speculation in the city along with others, purchasing undeveloped land in great quantities, and many parcels bear her name or that of her sons among those in abstracts.

And the history of all of our neighborhoods is entirely fascinating from the street names to the famous people who lived in them. For instance, do you know why there’s an Ocean Boulevard on Siesta Key when the city isn’t near any ocean? Turns out the street was named after Captain Louis Roberts’s wife, whose given name was Ocean Hansen.

It was a lot of fun researching this and the fact remains that Sarasota is not the easiest place to find your way around. Thankfully, most of us have navigation systems…and lifetime Sarasota residents like myself who know their way around! So if you are thinking of buying Real Estate in Sarasota, I will be glad to show you around my home town and find you a great home!


Sources and Credits: nps.gov, Sarasota History Alive, The Sarasota Herald Tribune/Jeff LaHurd

Getting a Building Permit at Marina Jack's?!

Before I went away to college at the University of Florida and subsequently went into the Air Force, I worked with my dad. I got a great education from him. He was a builder in Sarasota in the 1950’s and 60’s. He built one spec house at a time, sold it and began another. At first, I helped with all of the menial tasks that an apprentice in the construction/carpentry trades would encounter in a craft/apprentice environment. The mindset of this arrangement was to ensure a full and comprehensive knowledge in training to be a craftsman. It was a carryover from my grandfather, who was a German trained master cabinet maker. While certainly not fun at first, I did learn the construction trade in depth and this valuable knowledge has aided me in my profession as a Real Estate agent in Sarasota, Florida.

I started learning the building trades the summer of my 12^th year and I clearly remember going with my dad down to the foot of Main Street where The City Pier, which housed Sarasota County Building Department was at that time, to get permits. In those days, believe it or not, the building department was right where Marina Jack’s is now!  And getting a permit was much different in those days. Dad knew everyone in the Building Department and we would just walk in, chat for a few minutes and walk out with our permit.

The City Pier has quite a history. It was one of the first projects undertaken when the colonists arrived in the Sarasota area from Scotland in late December 1885. The only way to travel between Sarasota and points north was by boat, and without a docking facility, the young community would be isolated from its neighbors and the rest of the world. This pier was once home to the Hoover Arcade, the City Fire Department and City Hall. At one time, it also housed Dave Broadway’s Oyster Café, an ice cream parlor, the Lyric Theater and various other offices. In 1948, the building was devoted entirely to City Hall.

Until 1967, the city's business continued to be conducted in the old Hover Arcade at the foot of lower Main Street, with its inviting archway onto the city pier as it had since 1917. The city manager, Ken Thompson, hired in 1950 was still at the helm guiding Sarasota through these transitional years. From 1917 until 1967 when it was razed, the iconic building became an enduring symbol of Sarasota and one of my favorite boyhood memories.

The entire Sarasota Bayfront began taking on an upscale appearance with the construction of Marina Mar at the City Pier site, known today as Marina Jack. It was built to put “Sarasota on the yachtsman's map” along with the addition of Island Park. Within a short period construction began and was completed in 1965. Marina Mar sold to Jack Graham and Jack Anderson, and the name was changed to Marina Jack. The complex had 110 boat slips, and could berth vessels up to 65 feet long. The marina was the only one between St. Petersburg and Boca Grande that was capable of handling the larger vessels. The restaurant afforded diners panoramic view of the downtown skyline westward to Bird Key, which it still does today.

There are many beautiful residences of all kinds near and around our iconic Bayfront, so if you are looking for a home in Sarasota, let’s meet at Marina Jack and I will share some wonderful stories about My Home Town and help you find your dream home.

Credits: The Sarasota Historical Society , The Sarasota Herald Tribune, Jeff LaHurd, Sarasota Magazine, Sarasota History Alive