Historic Dearborn Street - Florida Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

Marker text:

Historic Dearborn Street

Dearborn Street began as a path and oxen trail worn by the William and Mary Goff family that moved to Lemon Bay in 1878. When Herbert, Howard, and Ira Nichols platted Englewood in 1896 they used the trail as the southern boundary of the residential area. They named it Dearborn.

In 1912 Peter and Florence Buchan purchased from the Nichols brothers the only supply business in town, along with the rights to the post office, for the sum of $315. The following year they acquired land on the corner of Dearborn Street and (now) Old Englewood Road. On it they built a two-story building with the store and post office located on the first floor and the family's living quarters above. The Buchans also built a dock that extended 250 feet into Lemon Bay and became the arrival point for goods coming into town. (There were no roads connecting Englewood with other communities at that time.) Almost immediately, the property became known as Buchan's Landing. Other merchants soon followed Buchan's lead and Dearborn Street became the new commercial center of Englewood.

During the rapid growth period of the 1920s, Dearborn Street was part of the initial route for the Tamiami Trail. In spite of promises at the highway's 1928 opening that Englewood would always be on the route, by the mid-1930's it has been bypassed.

Englewood's oldest building remains at the corner of Dearborn Street and Old Englewood Road. It was built in 1896 and became Mrs Quimbly's Boarding House for Ladies and Gentlemen. In more recent years it was Rinkard's Guest House.

Dearborn Street has been the location of a number of "first" for the town. Dr Ernest Smith was the first doctor and Dr. John Flower the first dentist. Englewood's first newspaper, The Englewood Herald, the first 5&10 store, funeral home, appliance store, playhouse theater, drug store and outboard motor repair shop were located on Dearborn.

Set back from Dearborn is the Elsie Quirk Library, the first community library to receive funds from Sarasota County Government. In the 1990's, civic and government leaders began a program to revitalize historic Dearborn Street.

Marker Number: not numbered Date: 2005 County: Charlotte Marker Type: Roadside Sponsored or placed by: Sarasota County Historical Commission Website: Not listed

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