History of Sarasota

ith front porches. There was also a baseball park at 501 Lemon Avenue, according to the 1916 City Directory. The Colson Hotel was one of two hotels in the immediate area. Built by E.O. Burns and opened late in 1926, the hotel was for black tourists and residents. It was located on Eight Street just off Central Avenue. Described by the Sarasota Herald in an article dated December 15, 1926, the hotel was constructed of fine yellow stucco on hollow tile. The hotel contained 28 rooms and had a comfortable lobby with fireplace. Later it was named the Hotel Palm.

According to Annie M. McElroy in her book, "But Your World and My World," classes for blacks were first conducted in the Knights of Pythias Hall. The Knights of Pythias was a local fraternal organization at 404 Coconut Avenue in 1916. In 1925 the Sarasota Grammar School was built. This school was on Seventh Street east of Central Avenue. The school was renamed Booker Grammar School in honor of its first principal, Emma E. Booker.By 1930, classes for blacks had been consolidated on the Booker campus, and in 1935 Booker High School's first class graduated with four students. Over time, many in Sarasota's black community moved north to today's Newtown area. The Sarasota Times reported in 1915 that C.N. Thompson and his son, Russell, had opened a subdivision of four acres named Newtown three-quarters of a mile north of town outside city limits. According to the Times, the subdivision had 240 lots, a few of which were donated for a Methodist and Baptist church and school houses. The developers declared that the deeds would be given whenever the buildings were erected.

To recover from the debt the state incurred through defeat in the Civil War, the central portions of Florida were drained and offered for sale by the state during the 1880s, being sold internationally to developers in the North and abroad.

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