LONGBOAT KEY

19th century

Prior to 1842, Cuban and Spanish fishermen along with some squatters resided on the island. A fishing camp and a trading post for Native Americans existed in the northern part of the key located in what is presently the Longboat Village. At the time, the area was referred to on maps as "Saraxola" and "Zarazote". An 1839 map compiled by order of General Zachary Taylor during the Second Seminole War called the island Palm Island.

There is little known about the island between 1848 and the 1880s, since a hurricane hit the area and destroyed most of Longboat Key. The only thing known is that Charles Abbe had a plantation at an unknown location on the island where citrus and pineapples were grown.

The first people of European descent to claim land on the island were Colin and Rowlin W. Witt, claiming 7.15 acres (2.89 ha) on the north end of the island in 1882. Several others would claim land on the island during the late 1800s, but none of them are known to have lived on the island permanently.

In 1884, Thomas Mann claimed 144.5 acres (58 ha) on the key. He and his family moved there in 1888, becoming the first known permanent residents on the key. His home was located somewhere on the north end of the key.

Mann was a carpenter by trade who was originally from Indiana and later moved to Minnesota. During the American Civil War he served the Union under the 7th Minnesota Infantry Regiment. Mann and his family moved to what is known today as Bradenton in 1872. He left because of either a local yellow fever epidemic or prejudice against him from being from the Northern United States. Mann died in 1908 in nearby Cortez. His son, James, claimed 143.5 acres (58 ha) south of his father's land in 1891.

In 1895, with a passage being dug in from Sarasota Bay to Tampa Bay, steamships and paddle boats could access the island. Soon, a mail service was established that brought residents mail from Cortez. Thomas Mann sold his land in 1898 to May and June Pointevesant of Ocean Springs, Mississippi.

20th century

Longboat Key's first post office was established in 1907 at Byron Corey's pier at the southern end of the island, where he owned 153.5 acres (62 ha) of land beginning in 1903. Corey also served as Longboat Key's first postmaster. The post office on the sound end lasted until 1921, when it was destroyed by a hurricane.

During the 1910s, the key saw a surge in development and changes to it. The Pointevesants sold their land to Rufus Perry Jordan and Annie Jordan in May 1911. Rufus laid out a community named Longbeach, filling the plat in November 1911. During 1913, another subdivision named Shore Acres that covered 170 acres of land was developed at the "narrowest" part of the island, and was finished by the next year. Another community was also started at about the same time, named Island Beach, located south of it. Longbeach gained its own post office in 1914. During the early 1900s and prior to the 1921 hurricane, Longboat Key had a significant farming presence, with local residents growing a variety of products. A 1912 Sarasota Times headline read: "From a lonely Key, it is now a center of trucking and fruit growing."

In 1921, the key lost most of its agricultural land and buildings during a hurricane. That same year, the island was split between two counties, Sarasota and Manatee.

Starting in 1923, John Ringling purchased a large amount of land on Longboat Key. In February 1926, Ringling entered a contract to develop a luxury hotel named the Ritz-Carlton on the south side of the island. The hotel was to have 200+ rooms, docking facilities and a railroad leading to it to bring guests there. The hotel began construction in March 1926, with a completion date before December 15, 1926 as specified in the contract. An 18-hole golf course would be built next to the hotel as well. Ringling found himself preoccupied with other financial interests, and during that year the Florida land boom began to slow down as well. In November he ordered construction to be stopped on the hotel, and later claimed he would resume construction, but never did.

There were no roads that led to the key until 1929, when a bridge was built to St. Armands. A bridge across Longboat Pass was built in April 1929 and would exist until March 1932.

Starting in 1935, a former Chicago insurance agent named Gordon Whitney started buying up property to construct a series of cottages on the northern end of the island. The area was given the name of Whitney Beach. Whitney intended to have the cottages serve as part of a resort.

In 1937, John Ringling North, the head of the estate of John Ringling, who had died in 1936, announced that Martin Sweeney had an interest in finishing the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. Sweeney said the hotel would have two 18 hole golf courses, an airport, a club and facilities for fishing, along with 235 rooms when completed. However, these plans would never transpire and the hotel remained in its then-current state.

By 1939 or 1940, telephone service was brought to the North End. Longboat Key got its first newspaper, Gulf Gale, in 1941; it would run until 1944.

In World War II, Longboat Key had a bombing range. In 1942, it was used by B-26 planes, and from 1943 to 1945 by P-40 and P-51 planes. The range was used between 8am and 5pm, which meant that residents on the northern side of the island could not go south of it until after its training sessions.

On November 13, 1955, the town was incorporated by a 186–13 vote at a meeting in a fire station. The meeting itself lasted for 3 hours and 10 minutes in total. Reasons for supporting incorporation included that Longboat Key could have more say in its governmental affairs. It is also believed that the placement of a segregated beach for African-Americans on the island was a motivator behind incorporating it. By incorporating the entire key, they could somehow avoid the placement of the beach altogether. Residents also held meetings protesting the beach's placement. Significant arguments against incorporation were that property taxes would go up. After doing the incorporation vote, Will LePage was elected as the first mayor, along with the first eight members of the Board of Aldermen. At the time, only about a third of Longboat Key was developed, and roughly 215 people lived on the key. When the town was incorporated, it changed its name from Longbeach to Longboat Key.

In 1959, the Arvida Corporation created by Arthur Vining Davis purchased 2,000 acres, which included the southern half of Longboat Key, a majority of Lido Key, along with Bird Key, Otter Key, and Coon Key, at a price of $13.5 million. It was expected that the population would be increased by 12,000 extra residents. Some of the land purchased would come from John Ringling North, and on his Longboat Key land included the unfinished Ritz-Carlton Hotel. There was a proposal in 1962 by a Sarasota realtor to finish its construction and make it into a convention site for Sarasota. However, Arvida had no interest in either selling or attempting to finish the hotel. The hotel was torn down between December 1963 and January 1964. Debris from the demolished hotel would be used as fill for the city's civic center and City Island.

21st century

On the evening prior to, and day of, the September 11 attacks, President George W. Bush stayed at the Colony Beach and Tennis Resort on Longboat Key before later visiting Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota. The Colony Resort was selected because it was a location that would be easy to secure.

In early 2024, it was announced that a new public library would be built on Longboat Key. The library is to be a part of the Sarasota County Library System.