History of Sarasota

855, placing Sarasota under the governance of Manatee County until 1921, when three new counties were carved out of portions of Manatee. One of those new counties was called Sarasota, and the city was made its seat. The boundary of the community once extended to Bowlees Creek, but that was redrawn to an arbitrary line in order to divide the airport so its oversight could include both counties. Property records and street addresses north of that new county line and south of the creek, however, remain as "Sarasota" due to established postal designations, although they remain governed by Manatee County.

Sarasota's first black settler was Lewis Colson. Colson came to Sarasota in 1884 to assist Richard E. Paulson, an engineer for the Florida Mortgage and Investment Company, in surveying the town of Sarasota.A former slave, Colson remained in Sarasota throughout his life, contributing to the development of the community in many ways. The picture above is believed to be of Colson with his wife, Irene. It is among many unidentified photographs by Felix Pinard, who photographed Sarasota in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Lewis and Irene Colson started Sarasota's first black community in 1910. It consisted of several families. The Colsons also helped organize Sarasota's first black church, the Bethlehem Baptist Church, by selling land to the church trustees for one dollar. The church was built on the corner of today's Seventh Street and Central Avenue in 1899, and remained there until 1973. The hub of Sarasota's first black community, which came to be known as Overtown, was at the intersection of Central Avenue and Sixth Street. According to early maps of the area, by the mid-1920s, a thriving residential and business district existed there. Businesses included a movie theater, pressing clubs, markets, lunch rooms, and grocery and general merchandise stores. Residences varied in size, but most were modest, one-story, wood frame structures