Burns SquareFlorida State Blog

Sarasota is a city on the southern western coast of Florida in the United States. Before Sarasota was a city thousands of years ago it was the hunting and gathering grounds for Native Americans looking for a place to rest and land to live off of. As time went on glaciers melted causing waters to rise on the coast and soon it became business grounds for the Spaniards.

The Native Americans did not leave their home without a fight. As the Spaniards approached their hunting and gathering grounds they fought back with their arrows while the Spaniards used their ammo. Eventually the Native Americans were forced out of Sarasota, but many of them died fighting for their land.

When the Spaniards were finally able to settle on the Sarasota land themselves it was in the mid 1800s. This became fishing and trading grounds for trading goods between the Spaniards, Cubans, and Americans.

As time went on a pioneer family called the Whitakers moved to Sarasota and built a home and a life on the land. In the family there were 13 members who were 2 adults and 11 children. The family was once friends with a Native American Chief named Holata Micco until he became angered by the way they lived and things they did and burnt their home right to the ground. However, no one was killed or injured in this angered attack. Eventually the family made a new home and a new life again as time went on.

More and more families moved into Sarasota, Florida as time went on because of the warm weather and pleasurable living conditions. However, the battle angered Native Americans still were angered and fought back from time to time.

Then in the late 1800s after the Civil War a Scots colony moved to Sarasota and settled there. They began to build these marvelous well run towns with great investing and mortgage companies. However, this colony didn’t run well for long when the Ormiston colony showed up and saw there weren’t enough homes or places for them to shop for food, clothing, and other materials that they were promised by the Scots colony if they were to move there. As time went on the Scots colony actually left Sarasota, Florida leaving only a few family members behind such as John Hamilton Gillespie who actually built more businesses such as hotels, golf courses, and boating docks. Then as more time past John Hamilton Gillespie became mayor of Sarasota.

In the early 1900s Owen Burns became one of the biggest business and land owners in Sarasota. He was known for building bridges, landmarks, mansions and commercial establishments. Eventually he became partners with John Ringling another business owner in Sarasota, but overtime both became bankrupt.

By the 1920s the great depression hit causing financial problems for the city and everyone living and working there. Then in 1925 a city planner named John Nolen came to help rebuild the city and make it finically wealthy again. However, this plan was unsuccessful.

Today Sarasota, Florida is home to many Americans and has become a beautiful tourist place for many all over the world.