What is the history of Longboat Key, Florida?
The history of Longboat Key includes that of the Calusa and Timucuan Indians, who resided there in the 1500s–when the Gulf of Mexico was six feet lower than it is today. Longboat Key was initially settled by hardy pioneers who were awarded land grants under the Homestead Act of 1862. Farming was extensive, with tomatoes, guavas, avocados and citrus crops abundant. The steamboat Mistletoe, out of Tampa, put in at Corey’s Landing, at mid-Key, and Longbeach, at the end of Broadway, to load crops and debark passengers during the early 1900s. The 1921 hurricane flooded the Key and ended truck farming. That same year, Florida amended the Florida Constitution to include under it Sarasota County–and Longboat Key was divided in half: Manatee County in the north and Sarasota County in the south. During World War II, the center of the island was a target range for Army Air Force pilots flying P-40s, B-26s and B-51s. Tourism rose in the 1950s, the Town was incorporated in 1955, and Condominium l
