 Lido Beach, 2015 | |
  Lido Key Lido Key  Lido Key Lido Key (Caribbean) | |
| Geography | |
|---|---|
| Location | Gulf of Mexico |
| Coordinates | 27°19′01″N82°34′53″W / 27.31694°N 82.58139°W |
| Administration | |
| State | Florida |
| County | Sarasota |
Lido Key is a barrier island off the coast of Sarasota, Florida, in the United States. It is part of the city of Sarasota and is connected to mainland Sarasota by John Ringling Causeway.
To its north is Longboat Key; to its east are Bird Key and St. Armands Key; and to its south is Siesta Key.
The island features numerous sandy beaches facing the Gulf of Mexico, as well as a park called "South Lido Park", which has a beach and a woodland trail. [1] The island is well developed with a wide variety of luxury hotels and beach houses, and has a seasonal nightclub scene. While not as popular as Siesta Key Beach, Lido Key Beach is reviewed as a more private beach that is more relaxing for the tourists who come from around the world to visit it. Weddings and other private parties will often book a section of the beach for their guests. [2]
In February 1926, a causeway built by John Ringling connecting Lido Key & St. Armands Key would be built. [3] The Lido Beach Hotel that was 2 floors would be delivered by a barge in sections of the building in 1932. A casino would be proposed in 1936 as a way to improve the city's tourism by Roger Flory a member of the Sarasota chamber of congress. Flory proposed that the municipal government should provide a bathing beach being later expanded to include a bathing facility of sorts. The chamber of congress would meet with the Sarasota city council where a committee was formed. The site selected would be on the property of John Ringling's estate managed by John Ringling North on Lido Key. [4] The Lido Beach Casino would be built in 1940 as a Works Progress Administration project with Ralph Twitchell being its architect. The casino had a ballroom, restaurants, shopping, a pool and cabanas. Rudy Bundy would often play at the casino's ballroom. During World War II, the casino would be a popular place for nearby soldiers to spend time. [5] In 1964 a bond referendum of $250,000 would be passed in order to renovate it. It would end up being torn down despite not intending to be in 1969 and the rationale behind its demolition is not clear. Possible reasons are that the Casino's restaurant was in competition with nearby hotels and/or a decline in revenue from cabana rentals. [4]
Like many other beaches during the Jim Crow era in the southeastern United States, Lido beach was an all-white beach. On October 2, 1955, about 100 African American residents of the Newtown neighborhood in Sarasota went to Lido Beach to do a wade-in. The wade-in protest was organized by the Sarasota NAACP president, Neil Humphrey Sr. and at the time less than two miles of beaches were allowed for use by black people in Florida. [6] After the protests occurring, prominent members of the Sarasota community and local newspapers called for exploring possible locations for a beach for local black residents. A bond issue was passed to expand beach facilities and also create an African American beach. However the beach was never established. The two primary reasons for this was that both the city government and the county could not agree on which party would responsible for it along with not being able to find a suitable location. Four locations that were under consideration were: Big Pass on Siesta Key, somewhere on Longboat Key and an area of beach north of Midnight Pass. [7] [8]
Longboat Key and Siesta Key residents protested against having a beach at their proposed locations. Longboat Key residents held meetings to protest the proposed beach on the island and residents were motivated by this voted to incorporate the island as a way to avoid the placement of the beach there. Siesta Key residents also held meetings, ran a full-page newspaper advertisement at an unknown point, and went to county and city commission meetings to voice their opposition towards the creation of an African-American beach there. Both Siesta Key locations were considered to not be suitable for the beach because of the need for dredging and/or the swift currents that were there. Another option was creating an artificial beach in Sarasota Bay. [7] [8]
The NAACP and Newtown community members continued their protests on a weekly basis. The City of Sarasota started to take more active measures against integration passing city ordinances that gave law enforcement the authority to shut down beaches when African-American bathers would come and to reopen them when they also left. In 1961 the US federal government threatened the City of Sarasota with taking away its funds towards fighting beach erosion if it did not desegregate its beaches. It is unknown at which exact date the beaches became desegregated as there are no known formal declarations of it nor mentioning of it in local newspapers. [7] [8]
Sarasota County is a county located in Southwest Florida. At the 2020 US census, the population was 434,006. Its county seat is Sarasota and its largest city is North Port. Sarasota County is part of the North Port–Sarasota–Bradenton, FL metropolitan statistical area.
Bradenton Beach is a city on Anna Maria Island in Manatee County, Florida, United States. The population was 908 at the 2020 census, down from 1,171 in 2010. It is part of the Bradenton-Sarasota-Venice, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city occupies the southern part of Anna Maria Island and is one of three municipalities on the island. The others are Holmes Beach in the center and Anna Maria in the north.
Longboat Key is a town in Manatee and Sarasota counties along the central west coast of the U.S. state of Florida, located on and coterminous with the barrier island of the same name. Longboat Key is south of Anna Maria Island, between Sarasota Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. It is almost equally divided between the Manatee and Sarasota counties. The town of Longboat Key was incorporated in 1955 and is part of the Bradenton-Sarasota-Venice, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. The town's population was 6,888 at the 2010 census, which decreased from 7,603 at the 2000 census. It increased to 7,505 in the 2020 census.
Sarasota is a city in and the county seat of Sarasota County, Florida, United States. It is located in Southwest Florida, the southern end of the Greater Tampa Bay Area, and north of Fort Myers and Punta Gorda. Its official limits include Sarasota Bay and several barrier islands between the bay and the Gulf of Mexico. Sarasota is a principal city of the Sarasota metropolitan area. According to the 2020 U.S. census, Sarasota had a population of 54,842.
Siesta Key is a barrier island off the southwest coast of the U.S. state of Florida, located between Roberts Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. A portion of it lies within the city boundary of Sarasota, but the majority of the key is a census-designated place (CDP) in Sarasota County. Siesta Key is part of the North Port–Bradenton–Sarasota Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Ringling College of Art and Design is a private art and design school in Sarasota, Florida. It was founded by Ludd M. Spivey as an art school in 1931 as a remote branch of Southern College but separated by 1933.
Virginia Key is an 863-acre (3.49 km2) barrier island in Miami, Florida. It is located in Biscayne Bay south of Brickell and north of Key Biscayne and is accessible from the mainland via the Rickenbacker Causeway.
Siesta Beach is a beach located on Siesta Key in the U.S. state of Florida.
St. Armands Key is an island in Sarasota Bay off the west coast of Florida in the United States. It is part of the city of Sarasota, Florida. The island is connected to the mainland by the John Ringling Causeway.
Sarasota Bay is a lagoon located off the central west coast of Florida in the United States. Though no significant single stream of freshwater enters the bay, with a drainage basin limited to 150 square miles in Manatee and Sarasota counties, it is generally treated as an estuary, with three "passes" or inlets, giving access from the Gulf of Mexico. Its source of freshwater has been increased from natural historical levels by urban runoff.
State Road 789 is a 17.5-mile-long road along the Florida’s Gulf Coast that spans Bird Key, St. Armands Key, and Lido Key, in Sarasota; Longboat Key ; and Anna Maria Island. The southern terminus is the intersection of the John Ringling Causeway and the Tamiami Trail in Sarasota; the northern terminus is the intersection of Gulf Drive, North and Manatee Avenue., West in Holmes Beach. Much of the northernmost five miles (8 km) has been designated Bradenton Beach Scenic Highway.
The Sarasota metropolitan area is a metropolitan area located in Southwest Florida. The metropolitan area is defined by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as the North Port–Bradenton–Sarasota Metropolitan Statistical Area, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) consisting of Manatee County and Sarasota County. The principal cities listed by the OMB for the MSA are North Port, Bradenton, Sarasota, Lakewood Ranch, and Venice. At the 2020 census, the MSA had a population of 833,716. The Census Bureau estimates that its population was 891,411 in 2022.
Historic district
Owen Burns was born in Fredericktown in Cecil County on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. He was an entrepreneur, banker, builder, and land developer who at one time owned the majority of the land comprising Sarasota, Florida and developed or built many of its historic structures, developments, roads, seawalls, and bridges. He became a leader in the community, contributing to its growth and development.
Ralph Spencer Twitchell was one of the founding members of the Sarasota School of Architecture. He is considered the father of the group of modernist architecture practitioners, that includes Paul Rudolph and Jack West, and other modernist architects who were active in the Sarasota area in the 1950s and 1960s like Ralph and William Zimmerman, Gene Leedy, Mark Hampton, Edward “Tim” Seibert, Victor Lundy, William Rupp, Bert Brosmith, Frank Folsom Smith, James Holiday, Joseph Farrell and Carl Abbott. He bridged the more traditional architecture of his early work in Florida during the 1920s with his modernist designs that began in the 1940s.
John Ringling Causeway is a bridge that extends past the Sarasota Bay, from Sarasota to St. Armands Key and Lido Key. The 65-foot-tall (20 m) bridge, built in 2003, is a segmental box girder bridge named after John Ringling, one of the founders of the Ringling Brothers Circus and resident of the Sarasota area.
The earliest known identification of the area known today as Sarasota, Florida, was identified on a sheepskin Spanish map from 1763 with the word "Zarazote" written over the location of present-day Sarasota and Bradenton. The municipal government of Sarasota was established when it was incorporated as a town in 1902. Incorporation under the city form of government followed in the next decade. In 1921, Sarasota County was formed out of Manatee County, with Sarasota city serving as the county seat.
Edward John "Tim" Seibert was an architect based in Sarasota, Florida. Seibert was a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and one of the founders of the modern movement known as the Sarasota School of Architecture.
Newtown is a predominantly African American community in Sarasota, Florida. Emma E. Booker Elementary, Booker Middle School, and Booker High School are in Newtown and named for educator Emma E. Booker. A farmer's market has been held in Newtown. A historical marker commemorates the community's history. Historical trolley tours have been offered along the Newtown African American Heritage Trail by the Newtown Alive organization. The Rosemary Cemetery where Owen Burns is buried is nearby and the Robert L. Taylor Complex is in Newtown.
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