Historical Marker

Fruitville Elementary School

In 1905, the School Board erected a new school west of Simmons Avenue and north of Fruitville Road on land donated by Charles Reaves, who in 1895, had become postmaster and had handled mail for 115 residents from his home for this community which he named Fruitville. The new school was called the Fruitville School and enrolled about 20 students. Fruitville community citizens petitioned the Sarasota County Board of Public Instruction in 1937 for construction of a more modern school. Built with Work Projects Administration funding, this school was built as its present location on about one acre of land purchased from Otis and Bernice Howell for the sum of "One dollar and other valuable consideration." Built of stuccoed concrete block, the new Fruitville Elementary School contained six classrooms, an auditorium, a small library, an office and flush toilets. Completed in 1941, the new school included grades one through six and consolidated the Tatum Ridge and Miakka elementary schools. Fruitville Elementary was the county's first school to serve migrant worker families and continues to educate children of circus performers.

Fruitville

Charles Reaves of Georgia was the first settler to arrive in the area later to be named Fruitville, then a part of Manatee County. As a store clerk, he met Martha Tatum when she and her family traveled from their home in Tatum Ridge to pick up mail and supplies. They were married in 1875 and soon built a home on a 100 acre tract located north of the present Fruitville Road and west of Simmons Avenue.

The Florida Mortgage and Investment Co. (FMI), formed by a group of Scottish immigrants in 1885, bought some 60,000 acres - mostly in Manatee County and proceeded to lay out the future Sarasota and village of Fruitville. The latter was planned for an experimental farm, hospital and cemetery. John Hamilton Gillespie and John Browning were both active in the FMI.

As new settlers arrived, the community became large enough for a post office. U.S. census figures show Manatee County's population expanding from 854 in 1860 to 1931 in 1870 and almost doubling to 3544 by 1880. Reaves was appointed postmaster on June 7, 1895, and named the community Fruitville - perhaps because of the area's rich soil and citrus groves.

Living conditions were difficult with the nearest doctor miles away and a traveling dentist making an annual visit. Insects, especially mosquitoes, abounded and malaria was common. Cooking was done outside over a wood fire or in the fireplace in inclement weather. Most homes had smokehouses in which to cure meat.

Dedicated in 1991 by the Sarasota County Historical Commission

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