Sarasota, FL news and local guide

Sarasota, the seat of Sarasota County on Sarasota Bay, has a name whose origin is disputed. A story invented by George F. Chapline in 1906 claimed Hernando de Soto named it for a daughter, Sara, though de Soto had no children. Other theories trace it to "Zara Soto," said to mean "radiance of Soto," to explorers reminded of the Sahara combined with a Native word for "blue waters," or to a Calusa phrase for land easily seen. A Spanish map of 1763 shows Zarazote over present-day Sarasota and Bradenton, a British map of 1776 by Bernard Romans shows a Boca Sarasota, and a fishing camp and trading post on Longboat Key was called Saraxota. The name Sarasota appears on the first U.S. maps of Florida in 1839.

More about Sarasota

Between about 1883 and 1885 the Florida Mortgage and Investment Company of Edinburgh bought 60,000 acres for development, and many Scottish settlers began arriving in December 1885. Sarasota was incorporated as a town on October 14, 1902, with John Hamilton Gillespie as first mayor, and reincorporated as a city on May 13, 1913, with A. B. Edwards as mayor. During the real estate rush of the early 20th century the city limits grew to almost 70 square miles, but when the boom collapsed in 1926 they shrank to less than a quarter of that. Dozens of markers in the city honor circus performers. Sources Wikipedia: Sarasota, Florida