Gillespie Park is a downtown neighborhood bordered on the north by 10th Street, south by Fruitville Road, east by U.S. 301 and west by Orange Avenue. The neighborhood has a number of examples of several significant architectural styles.We invite you to share in the revitalization of this special neighborhood as it comes to life again with fresh paint, smiling faces and pride.
A Brief History
The City of Sarasota was originally platted in 1886 by the Mortgage and Investment Trust Company. The area we now know as Gillespie Park was not platted with streets, but was designated an "experimental farm." This was to be the agricultural niche for the new planned city. Sarasota developed according to the plat with streets, houses and shops built radiating from the dock at the foot of Main Street. In 1907 a deep ditch was dug to the north of today's 10th Street. This ditch was designed to prevent storm waters from flowing from the higher elevation area north of the town into the downtown streets. This ditch, still present today, is important in the development of the neighborhood because it kept it from being a flood plain.
In 1913 a newly arrived land developer, Owen Burns, platted the first subdivision in Gillespie Park, known as Inwood Park. During the teen years many more subdivisions were platted by hopeful developers. Many homes were built during this era. The Florida and Sarasota real estate boom of the 1920's brought many to the neighborhood to build modest yet finely crafted homes in the skirts of bustling downtown Sarasota.
In 1924 the City of Sarasota purchased a large parcel of undeveloped land and created Gillespie Park, named after the city's foremost citizen and leader, Colonel John Hamilton Gillespie. This park was developed with special emphasis on recreation for children and in 1926 won a national award in the Playground Beautification Contest.
Reasons To Live In Gillespie Park
- Close proximity to a thriviing downtown
- A 10 acre public park slated for beautiful improvements
- Tree-lined streets with an affordable housing stock
- A compatible ethnic, chronological, and economic mix of residents
- Return of neighborhood involvement of police safety with our own Commutnity Resource Team Officers
- Commitment of the City for improvement of lighting, sidewalks, curbs and gutters
- Strengthened code enforcement
- New construction and rehabilitation through a non-profit organization committed to building stronger neighborhoods