A history of Sarasota,
since 1763
Postcards, papers and photographs of Sarasota from public archives, woven together by decade. Neighbors fill in the gaps.
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗Around 1883 to 1885, The Florida Mortgage and Investment Company of Edinburgh bought 60,000 acres (240 km2) for development in what is now Sarasota. Many Scottish people began to arrive in Sarasota in December 1885. The municipal government of Sarasota was established when it was incorporated as a town on October 14, 1902. John Hamilton Gillespie was the first Mayor of the town government. When reincorporated with a city form of government on May 13, 1913, A. B. Edwards became the first mayor of the city government.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowFinish Sarasota’s story
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
1 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old view1940 Census Enumeration District …, 1850: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Sarasota, decade by decade
1990s
Then & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as 1940 Census Enumeration District Descriptions - Florida - Sarasota County - ED 58-1A, ED 58-1B (1850) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Historic places
National Register · via Wikidata
From Wikimedia Commons (5) and the National Register (1). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.