Manatee County is a county in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 399,710. Manatee County is part of the North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. Its

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

and largest city is

Bradenton Bradenton ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Manatee County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city's population is 55,698, up from 49,546 at the 2010 census. It is a principal city in the Sarasota metropolitan area. Dow ...

. The county was created in 1855 and named for the Florida manatee, Florida's official

marine mammal Marine mammals are mammals that rely on marine ecosystems for their existence. They include animals such as cetaceans, pinnipeds, sirenians, sea otters and polar bears. They are an informal group, unified only by their reliance on marine enviro ...

. Features of Manatee County include access to the southern part of the

Tampa Bay Tampa Bay is a large natural harbor and shallow estuary connected to the Gulf of Mexico on the west-central coast of Florida, comprising Hillsborough Bay, McKay Bay, Old Tampa Bay, Middle Tampa Bay, and Lower Tampa Bay. The largest freshwater i ...

estuary, the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, and the

Manatee River The Manatee River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 18, 2011 river in Manatee County, Florida, Manatee County, Florida. The river forms in the northeastern co ...

History

Prehistoric history

The area now known as Manatee County had been inhabited by Native Americans for thousands of years. Shell middens and other archaeological digs have been conducted throughout the county including at Terra Ceia and at Perico Island. These digs revealed materials belonging to peoples from the

Woodland period In the classification of :category:Archaeological cultures of North America, archaeological cultures of North America, the Woodland period of North American pre-Columbian cultures spanned a period from roughly 1000 BC to European contact i ...

European exploration and early settlement

Some historians have suggested that the southern mouth of the Manatee River was the landing site of the De Soto Expedition. Due to conflict during the

Patriot War The Patriot War was a conflict along the Canada–United States border in which bands of raiders attacked the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, British colony of Upper Canada more than a dozen times between December 1837 and Decemb ...

and

First Seminole War The Seminole Wars (also known as the Florida Wars) were a series of three military conflicts between the United States and the Seminoles that took place in Florida between about 1816 and 1858. The Seminoles are a Native American nation which co ...

, many Native American and African American refugees fled to the Tampa Bay region of Florida and some settled in modern-day Manatee County. The settlement they founded on the Manatee River was called

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

. By 1819, the population of Angola may have reached as high as 600-700 people. The Manatee area was opened to settlement in 1842 with the passing of the federal Armed Occupation Act. Early settlements included the Manatee Colony led by Colonel Samuel Reid that numbered thirty-one individuals both black and white. Other prominent early settlers were Joseph and Hector Braden who moved into an area near the Manatee River in 1842. The two had lost their land for their plantations in Northern Florida during the

Panic of 1837 The Panic of 1837 was a financial crisis in the United States that began a major depression (economics), depression which lasted until the mid-1840s. Profits, prices, and wages dropped, westward expansion was stalled, unemployment rose, and pes ...

. They were said to have heard that there was abundant land in the area. The brothers moved into a log cabin five miles north of the mouth of the Manatee River. Four years later Hector drowned while trying to cross the Manatee River on his horse during a hurricane. Despite this tragic event, Joseph decided he would still build the Braden sugar mill at the mouth of the Manatee River and the Braden River. He later built a dock where Main Street was and fortified the area near his house by building a stockade. A few years later in 1851, he built the Braden Castle, which was made out of tabby and served as his residence. In spring of 1856, the fortified home was attacked by Seminole Indians during the Third Seminole War. It later became a popular tourist attraction in the early 1900s with Tin Can Tourists. He would only stay there for the next six years before moving to Tallahassee.

County formation and development

Manatee County was carved out from a vast Hillsborough County in January 1855 and led by

Florida Senate The Florida Senate is the upper house of the Florida Legislature, the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida, the Florida House of Representatives being the lower house. Article III, Section 1 of the C ...

President Hamlin V. Snell. The new county covered 5,000 square miles and included all of what are now Charlotte County, DeSoto County, Glades County, Hardee County, Highlands County, Sarasota County, and part of Lee County. The original county seat was Manatee, a village on the southern shore of the Manatee River in what now is eastern Bradenton. In 1866, the county seat was moved from the village of Manatee to Pine Level, as a result of a referendum mandated by the Florida Legislature. In 1887, the county seat was moved again due to the creation of DeSoto County within the existing boundaries. Braiden Town (

) was selected as the new county seat by referendum of the county residents who mostly resided near the Manatee River. In 1921, Sarasota County was created by the Florida Legislature and further reducing Manatee County to its current boundaries.

American Civil War

Following the Seminole Wars, Manatee County continued to grow both in population and in economic output. Hogs and some sheep were raised, but the land was primarily used for cattle raising. Processed sugar and molasses was produced and exported. This agricultural economy, like much of the south, was increasingly becoming reliant on slave labor. A federal census in 1860 showed that the county had a population of 601 white people and 214 enslaved black people. After the outbreak of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, Manatee County provided supplies to the Confederate army. Aside from the

Union blockade The Union blockade in the American Civil War was a naval strategy by the United States to prevent the Confederate States of America, Confederacy from trading. The blockade was proclaimed by President Abraham Lincoln in April 1861, and required ...

, the Federal army dispatched raiding parties throughout Florida to further limit the Confederate supply chain. For example, in August 1864, the Union schooner USS Stonewall came up the Manatee river on a raid. According to the Florida State Archives, Dr. Braden's sugar works was destroyed during the raid. However, another source states that Braden's property was left untouched. According to a partial list of soldiers of the Confederate States of America, the county also sent at least 100 of its citizens to fight. Some of the men from Manatee would be recruited to the 7th Florida Infantry Regiment, which fought as part of the

Army of Tennessee The Army of Tennessee was a Field army, field army of the Confederate States Army in the Western theater of the American Civil War, Western Theater of the American Civil War. Named for the Confederate States of America, Confederate state of Tenn ...

. Within Manatee County is the Gamble Plantation, a sugar plantation and home of Major Robert Gamble. According to some, following the Civil War, the Confederate Secretary of State, Judah P. Benjamin, took refuge at the mansion before escaping to England.

Geography

According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...

, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (17%) is water.

Adjacent counties

* Hillsborough County – north * Polk County – northeast * Hardee County – east * DeSoto County – southeast * Sarasota County – south

State & Nationally protected areas

* De Soto National Memorial *

Passage Key National Wildlife Refuge The Passage Key National Wildlife Refuge is part of the United States National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) System, located offshore from St. Petersburg. The refuge was established in 1905 by President Theodore Roosevelt to preserve nesting colonies ...

* Lake Manatee State Park * Terra Ceia Preserve State Park * Myakka River State Park * Madira Bickel Mound State Archaeological Site * Beker-Wingate Creek State Park

Rivers

** Wares Creek ** Braden River *** Gamble Creek * Bowlees Creek

Lakes

* Ward Lake * Lake Parrish * Lake Manatee

Demographics

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 399,710 people, 150,345 households, and 99,157 families residing in the county. By age, the population was spread out as such: 4.6% under 5 years old, 18.0% under 18 years old, and 28.1% 65 years and over. 51.7% of the population was female. The median income for a household in the county was $59,963 in 2020 dollars and a per capita income in the past 12 months of $35,146. There was a reported 10.9% of the population living in poverty.

Economy

Bealls of Florida has its headquarters and was founded 1915 in unincorporated Manatee County. Tropicana was founded in Manatee County in the 1950s. Tropicana was bought by

PepsiCo PepsiCo, Inc. is an American multinational corporation, multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation headquartered in Harrison, New York, in the hamlet of Purchase, New York, Purchase. PepsiCo's business encompasses all aspects of the f ...

in 2001. PepsiCo sold Tropicana to a French private equity firm in 2021.

Libraries

The Manatee County Public Library System offers a collection of adult, young adult, and children's materials, as well as a genealogy section and a local history collection in the form of the Eaton Florida History Reading Room. Public computers are available at all library locations. The library also has a digital collection that includes e-books through OverDrive, Inc. and Libby; television shows, movies and more e-books through Hoopla; and magazines through Flipster; and local images and documents from the late nineteenth century to the early 1980

The libraries also offer author luncheons, children's story times, summer reading programs, job fairs, and book discussion groups. The library system serves the county in seven locations: * Central -

* Palmetto - Palmetto * Braden River -

* Island - Holmes Beach * South Manatee -

* Rocky Bluff - Ellenton * Lakewood Ranch -

* Talking Book Library is administered through the Bureau of Braille and Talking Books Library, Dayton

In September 2021, a seventh branch was approved by county commissioners, to be built in Lakewood Ranch. The library's grand opening was on January 12, 2024. Library cards are free to those who reside, own property, attend school, or work in Manatee County. Non-residents may obtain a temporary card upon payment of a $25.00 annual fee. Manatee County participates in the

Little Free Library Little Free Library is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that promotes neighborhood book exchanges, usually in the form of a public bookcase. More than 150,000 public book exchanges are registered with the organization and branded as Little Free ...

program. There are several Little Free Libraries at parks and other public places around the county.

History of libraries

Manatee County's first public library was a privately owned rental library created by Julia Fuller at the Mrs. Bass Dry Goods store in 1898. The county's first independent library opened in Bradenton in 1907, followed a Carnegie Library in Palmetto in 1914 and another in Bradenton in 1918. For much of the twentieth century, both cities' libraries were free to city residents while county residents had to pay a non-resident fee. In 1964, the Bradenton and Palmetto library associations merged with the Manatee County government to create the Manatee County Public Library System. This was followed by the establishment of a bookmobile for rural areas in 1964 and a Talking Books program for the blind in 1966. As demands on the bookmobile grew and the library collection outstripped the existing buildings in Bradenton and Palmetto, the first branch of the Manatee County Public Library system was built in Bayshore in 1967, followed by a new branch on East Ninth Street in 1969 and an Island branch in 1971, the last of which was moved into a new building in 1983. A new building for the Palmetto Library was built in 1969, followed by the modern Central Public Library in downtown Bradenton in 1978. The 1990s saw a period of rapid growth in Manatee County and the library system grew accordingly, with the Braden River, Rocky Bluff, and South Manatee branches opening in 1991, 1994, and 1998, respectively. The Braden River branch moved to a new building in 1997. The Rocky Bluff location would be moved to a larger location, featuring a built in café, in 2011. The new location is still physically within Ellenton. The additions as well as investment into various technologies such as modern computers, a 3-D Printing Lab, as well as new loanable items, brings Manatee County Libraries to its modern services. Reciprocal borrowing began in 2000 between Manatee and Sarasota County Libraries, which would be followed by statewide reciprocal borrowing programs. Starting in 2017, the Manatee County library system began offering items including musical instruments, tools, telescopes, binoculars, cake pans, hotspots, and museum passes. During the

COVID-19 Pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the library system began offering WiFi hotspots to patrons in order to provide internet service remotely to work safely and at home. This began in Spring of 2020. On December 15, 2021, the county broke ground for a new East County library, which was to serve the community of Lakewood Ranch. The new library was scheduled to open mid-2023. The new library, dubbed the Lakewood Ranch Library, had its grand opening on January 12, 2024.

Education

Primary and secondary education

* Manatee County School District – Public K-12 School district serving all of Manatee County

Higher education

* Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM) Bradenton – Private, nonprofit graduate school of medicine, dentistry, and pharmacy *

State College of Florida, Manatee–Sarasota State College of Florida, Manatee–Sarasota (SCF) is a public college with campuses in the Manatee County, Manatee and Sarasota County, Florida, Sarasota counties of Florida, United States. Part of the Florida College System, it is designated a ...

(SCF) – Public, four-year state college, branch campus of State College of Florida *

University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

campus (USF)-Preeminent, Public Research University and member of the American Association of Universities (AAU)

Communities

Cities

* Anna Maria *

* Bradenton Beach * Holmes Beach * Palmetto

Town

* Longboat Key (part)

Census-designated places

* Bayshore Gardens * Cortez * Ellenton * Lakewood Ranch (part) * Memphis * Samoset * South Bradenton * West Bradenton * West Samoset * Whitfield

Unincorporated places

* Cedar Hammock * Duette * Elwood Park * Fort Hamer * Foxleigh *

Gillette Gillette is an American brand of safety razors and other personal care products including shaving supplies, owned by the multi-national corporation Procter & Gamble (P&G). Based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, it was owned by The Gil ...

* Lake Manatee * Manavista *

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

* Marsh Island * Memphis Heights * Myakka City * Oak Knoll * Oneco * Palm View * Palma Sola * Parrish * Rattlesnake Key * Rubonia *

Rye Rye (''Secale cereale'') is a grass grown extensively as a grain, a cover crop and a forage crop. It is grown principally in an area from Eastern and Northern Europe into Russia. It is much more tolerant of cold weather and poor soil than o ...

* Snead Island * Tara * Terra Ceia * Verna * Village of the Arts * Ward Lake *

Waterbury Waterbury is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. Waterbury had a population of 114,403 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 Census. The city is southwest of Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford and northeast of New York City. Waterbury i ...

Willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, of the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 350 species (plus numerous hybrids) of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions. Most species are known ...

Transportation

Manatee County has a county transportation service,

MCAT The Medical College Admission Test (MCAT; ) is a computer-based standardized examination for prospective medical students in the United States, Canada, Australia, and the Caribbean Islands. It is designed to assess problem solving, critical ...

. It serves this county,

Pinellas County Pinellas County (, ) is located on the west central coast of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 959,107, making it the seventh-most populous county in the state. It is also the most d ...

, and Sarasota County.

Airports

* Sarasota–Bradenton International Airport * Airport Manatee 48X, a small local airport located near US Highway 41 and SeaPort Manatee.

Major Roads

Interstates

Interstate 75 Interstate 75 (I-75) is a major north–south Interstate Highway in the Great Lakes and Southeastern regions of the United States. As with most Interstates that end in 5, it is a major cross-country, north–south route, traveling from S ...

– the county's major north-south limited-access

freeway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway, and expressway. Other similar terms ...

Interstate 275 – the Interstate begins westward from I-75 near Palmetto and has an interchange with US Highway 41 (Tamiami Trail) and begins a concurrency with

US Route 19 U.S. Route 19 or U.S. Highway 19 (US 19) is a north–south United States Numbered Highway in the Eastern United States. Despite encroaching Interstate Highways, the route has remained a long-haul road, connecting the Gulf of Mex ...

for including the Sunshine Skyway Bridge

U.S. Highways

U.S. Route 19 * US 41

U.S. Route 41, Tamiami Trail * US 301

U.S. Route 301

State and County Roads

State Road 64 * Florida 70

State Road 70 * Florida 684

State Road 684 (Cortez Road) * Florida 789

State Road 789 * Florida 62

State Road 62 * Florida 37

State Road 37 * CR 675 jct

Rutland Road * CR 610 jct

University Parkway

Waterways

Intracoastal Waterway The Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) is a Navigability, inland waterway along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts of the United States, running from Massachusetts southward along the Atlantic Seaboard and around the southern tip of Florida, the ...

Ports

SeaPort Manatee SeaPort Manatee is a county-owned deepwater seaport located in the eastern Gulf of Mexico at the entrance to Tampa Bay in northern Manatee County, Florida. It is one of Florida's largest deepwater seaports and also regarded as the closest U.S. d ...

Government

Political history

Manatee County is part of the strongly Republican

Sun Belt The Sun Belt is a region of the United States generally considered stretching across the Southeast and Southwest. Another rough definition of the region is the area south of the Parallel 36°30′ north. Several climates can be found in the re ...

. The area became a Republican stronghold following

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and has remained so since: the last Democrat to win Manatee County was

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free France, Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command First Army (France), French Army B, part of the Sixt ...

. During the peak of the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

's prominence in the early 20th century, Manatee County would elect the only socialist to the

state legislature A state legislature is a Legislature, legislative branch or body of a State (country subdivision), political subdivision in a Federalism, federal system. Two federations literally use the term "state legislature": * The legislative branches of ...

, Andrew Jackson Pettigrew to the

Florida House of Representatives The Florida House of Representatives is the lower house of the Florida Legislature, the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida, the Florida Senate being the upper house. Article III, Section 1 of the C ...

in 1906 for one term defeating John A. Graham (who was a Democrat) in the general election.Griffin, R. Steven
WORKERS OF THE SUNSHINE STATE UNITE!: THE FLORIDA SOCIALIST PARTY DURING THE PROGRESSIVE ERA, 1900-1920
/ref> As a state legislator he would make several proposals that were inline with what the Party reflected at the national level such as making US Senators popularly elected and creating a national income tax. Overall as a state legislator he would make little progress in getting legislation proposed by him passed. Prior to the 1906 race he would run in 1904 for the same position unsuccessfully losing to A.T. Cornwell (also a Democrat) who had served as Bradenton's first mayor and in a variety of positions at the county level. Pettigrew would later go on to run for governor in

1908 This is the longest year in either the Julian or Gregorian calendars, having a duration of 31622401.38 seconds of Terrestrial Time (or ephemeris time), measured according to the definition of mean solar time. Events January * January ...

and

Secretary of Agriculture The United States secretary of agriculture is the head of the United States Department of Agriculture. The position carries similar responsibilities to those of agriculture ministers in other governments The department includes several organiz ...

in 1912 being unsuccessful in both races. In 1970, Governor Claude R. Kirk Jr. fired Manatee County's superintendent along with the entire school board and appointed himself in their place in an attempt to end

desegregation busing Desegregation busing (also known as integrated busing, forced busing, or simply busing) was an attempt to diversify the racial make-up of schools in the United States by transporting students to more distant schools with less diverse student pop ...

. This situation would last from April 6 to 13 before Kirk left his position as the superintendent.

Law enforcement and justice

Sheriff's Office

Unincorporated Manatee County is served by the Manatee County Sheriff's Office.

Justice

= Circuit Court

= Manatee County is a part of the Twelfth Circuit Court of Florida.

= Court of Appeals

= Manatee County is part of the Second District of Appeals.

Recent presidential election results

Government officials

United States Senate

United States House of Representatives

Florida State Senate

Florida House of Representatives

Manatee County Board of County Commissioners

The Board of Commissioners includes the following:

Public education

Other offices

Voter registration

Information as of May 21, 2025.

Notes

References

External links

*
Manatee Chamber of Commerce
{{authority control Florida counties 1855 establishments in Florida Florida placenames of Native American origin Sarasota metropolitan area Counties in the Tampa Bay area