SarasotaCountyGov history

In the early years of Overtown, black residents developed a thriving community thanks to Colson and the Colson Hotel was constructed in his honor in 1926.

Her two sons, Potter and Honoré, continued her agricultural legacy by establishing citrus groves and cattle ranches in southern and eastern Sarasota County, as well as the Palmer First National Bank in 1929.

In the tough years of the Great Depression, Sarasota received its first Works Progress Administration (WPA) project in 1935, which funded a drainage project for the city golf course.

Two years later, in 1937, came the an even more valuable WPA project – development of Bayfront Park and construction of the Municipal Auditorium, and later, the Lido Beach Casino was opened.

Work on the Manatee-Sarasota Airport was started in 1938.

In 1941, Myakka River State Park opened, and remains to this day a reminder of Bertha Palmer’s naturalist legacy in Sarasota.

The hotel catered to African American tourists up until the 1950’s when it was renamed the Hotel Palm.

In the 1960’s, the Van Wezels built a performing arts hall on the bay front and visitors to Sarasota can still enjoy a show at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall today.

In 1997, the Board of County Commissioners (BCC) enacted a historic preservation ordinance (Chapter 66 of the Sarasota County Code), creating a local register of historic places and a tax exemption program for qualifying improvements to locally-listed historical resources.

According to 2004 census figures Sarasota, the county seat, had a population of 54,349, although that number swells a bit during the winter season and spring break.

The draw that has always existed for the beautiful city is still prevalent today, with the United States Census Bureau stating that Florida topped 20 million people in 2015 and surpassed California in its migration rates from other states and other countries.