Lewis Colson came to Sarasota with his wife Irene. He drove the first stake into the ground to assist Richard Paulson in platting the town of Sarasota at Five Points in 1885. In 1897, the Colson's sold the deed for the land to build Bethlehem Baptist Church for $1, and soon after it was built, Lewis was appointed as the first minister. The Bethlehem Baptist Church was the first church built by and for African Americans. John Mays, a carpenter and builder helped complete the construction of the church. Between 1899 and 1937, twelve more African American churches are founded.
In 1900, Leonard Reid (seen above driving Blanche Gillespie) arrived in Sarasota from South Carolina. He graduated as valedictorian from Savannah Normal School before coming to Sarasota where he became a community leader. In 1902, Sarasota is incorporated. Colonel John Hamilton Gillespie is elected as the first mayor. Leonard Reid worked for Col. Gillespie and assisted in designing Sarasota’s first golf course and became its first greenskeeper. In 1903, Payne Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church was the second church built by and for African Americans. Leonard Reid and wife Eddye Coleman were influential in forming this church.
Wright Bush was born in Georgia in 1863. He moved to Sarasota and built a single-family home (seen above) on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Way (then 33rd Street) in 1920. Bush was an entrepreneur, owned land and sold tracts of real estate. The home still exists and was part of a community restoration painting project in 2018. In 1910, Josie Washington opened the first kindergarten in her home. Lucinda Wiggins also started a home-based school. In 1912, the first formal school facility for African American children was established in the Knights of Pythias Hall. Emma Edwina Booker, who Wright Bush helped to recruit, became the principal. In the year of 1937, Emma E. Booker obtained her bachelor’s degree after 20 years of part-time study. During that same period, she was a school principal and teacher.