Life Wasn't Easy for Sarasota's Early Pioneers
But tourists arrived from almost the very beginning.
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Find out moreEdited by Kay Kipling and Bob Plunket December 28, 2016
Tourists arrived from almost the very beginning. Here's a hotel back in 1915.
Photography by State Archives of Florida
Much of life was spent outdoors. A mother holding her baby circa 1890.
Photography by Sarasota County Historical Resources
Josephine Picard and her big brother Francis around 1885.
Photography by State Archives of Florida/Pinard
Bertha Palmer arrived in 1910, and Sarasota gained instant credibility as an up-and-coming town.
Photography by Sarasota County Historical Resources
Most travel was by boat. Here's the famous Mistletoe that plied between Sarasota and Tampa in the 1890s.
Photography by State Archives of Florida
Main Street just after World War I. That's the Hover Arcade in the distance. It later became the town hall.
Photography by CityData.com
A former slave, Lewis Colson arrived with his wife Irene in 1884, hired to plat the town of Sara Sota.
But tourists arrived from almost the very beginning.
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