Fruitville

History

An 1857 map of the "Country in the Vicinity of Manatee" during the Third Seminole War shows settlers near what is now Fruitville. The area had a large sawgrass swamp that was bounded on the east by Tatum Ridge (named for the George Tatum Sr., 1822–1910), north and west by Phillippi Creek with its headwaters in the Meadows residential development through Circus Hammock and Bobby Jones municipal golf course and Bee Ridge to the south. This marshland was home to wild Florida Cracker cattle. In 1923, the Sarasota-Fruitville drainage district was established (see also Bertha Palmer family). The new district provided around 8,000 acres of land for cultivation near the community of Fruitville. The farm land was formed by draining the historic wetland and dredging a drainage canal to Phillippi Creek, which drained roughly 26,000 acres. This area was later reclaimed as a wetland, and became the Celery Fields Regional Stormwater Facility. After the Civil War, a new wave of pioneers began to settle in Florida thanks to a growing citrus industry. In 1876, Charles Reaves (1847–1931) settled in what is now considered Fruitville. According to some sources, he was the one who named the area Fruitville after the abundance of fruit in the area. In 1895, Reaves would go on to become the postmaster for the area's 115 residents. The first church in what is now Sarasota County was the Friendship Baptist Church established by Reverend John Wright Hendry (1836–1907). The church was chartered in 1875 and a small pine log structure was used for the congregation until a new church was erected in 1876, using some of the original lumber from the first church. From 1877 to 1891, Isaac Alderman Redd (1835–1912) was pastor of the Friendship Baptist Church which first met in the Bee Ridge…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of , of which is land and , or 4.21%, is water.

Race & ethnicity