A Tour of My Town~ Venice, "City on the Gulf"

Welcome to Venice, Florida

Venice is a friendly, small town located on the Southwest coast of Florida between Fort Myers and Sarasota. The main street,Venice Avenue, is lined with quaint shops that are primarily in a Mediterranean style (most of the buildings on the island have this kind of architecture).

The Gazebo

Centennial Park is a large green right in the center of the downtown business area. In it you’ll find free parking; a Gazebo, where concerts, arts and craft shows, and various special events are held regularly; and the popular Children’s Fountain.

Kids enjoying the "dancing waters" in the Children's Fountain.

The “avenue” is a lovely boulevard shaded by giant live oaks and extends from downtown to Venice Beach.

The main entrance to Venice Beach

The beach, starting at the northern edge of the city where the Venice jetties open a passage from the Intracoastal Waterway to the Gulf of Mexico, extends for miles.  The "jetty" is popular with fishermen and offers a wonderful vantage point for watching dolphins, a beautiful sunset or the fireworks display on the 4th of July. 

South Jetty on the north end of Venice Beach.

Much of Venice Beach is undeveloped and merges into Sarasota County’s Caspersen Beach Park.

The boardwalk at Caspersen Beach.

Prehistoric sharks' teeth (there is no problem with sharks) are found on the beaches at Venice and Caspersen. Venice has been listed in many publications as being the "Shark's Tooth Capital of The World". It hosts an annual festival, the Shark's Tooth Festival, every year to celebrate the abundance of fossilized shark's teeth that can be found on its shores.
               (My husband has his own collection of teeth and fossils.)

This is one of his "trophy" teeth~one the biggest he's ever found.

  Some people don't find one like this in a lifetime of searching! 

I can't really tell you what the population of Venice is; it swells in winter and shrinks dramatically in summer.  There are alot of winter people.(aka snowbirds~some do not like being labelled as such.)

The city has an interersting history.

In the 1870s, Richard Roberts established a homestead near Roberts Bay. In 1884, he sold a portion of his holdings to Frank Higel. Higel established a citrus operation involving the production of several lines of canned citrus items and for the next 30 years, the Higel family members were boat builders, fishermen, grove caretakers and contractors. Darwin Curry was the first postmaster. The Higel and Curry families chose the name Venice for their community post office.

Historic Train Depot.

The first railroad to Venice was built in 1911, paving the way for new development and expansion. Development in Venice occurred slowly and it remained a small fishing town and farming community through the first part of the 1920s.

In 1925, Dr. Fred H. Albee, a well-known orthopedic surgeon, purchased 2,916 acres of land from the Venice-Sarasota Company.  The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers (BLE) purchased his land in October, 1925.  World-renowned city planner, John Nolen, was retained by BLE to design a city.  On June 10, 1926, the first street in Venice opened to traffic.  The Hotel Venice (it is now a "retirement" facility) opened on June 21, 1926 and residential construction in the town started in July 1926.  The state legislature changed the designation of Venice from a "town" to "city" on May 9, 1927.

The Venice Army Air Base was established in May 1942. The 27th Service Group was relocated from McDill Field in Tampa to provide training for support services to combat air units and later, the 13th Fighter Squadron, 53rd Fighter Group, was transferred to Venice from Fort Myers. They were operational training units for combat fighter pilots and ground crewmen. After World War II, the city of Venice acquired the air base from the United States government, with the stipulation that it always be used for aviation or revert to federal ownership.  It is still a small municipal airport.

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus's Clown College originally was located in Venice.  The circus winter headquarters were located in Venice until the 1960s.

Venice Theatre.

Venice has a wonderful small community theatre.  Productions range from Annie, to Beauty and the Beast to Menopause.  This past June, Venice Theatre hosted the International Theatre Festival. Many Venice residents are actors or involved with the theatre productions.

All year you find something going on in Venice.  The Venice Orchid Society Show takes place each February; ArtFest, a fabulous artisan fair, occurs the first weekend in November; Third Thursdays during the winter months offer a very pleasurable evening downtown. There are antique car shows, jazz concerts in the park, the Sun Fiesta and Shark's Tooth Festival.

Venice hasn't changed much in the past 20 years~only in good ways.  It is still quaint, with beautiful beaches.  

But, please, keep that a secret.