Roofer in Fruitville, FL

In the late 1870s, a new wave of pioneers began to settle in Florida thanks to a growing orange industry. In 1876, a man by the name of Charles Reeves settled in what is now considered Fruitville. According to some sources, he was the one who named the area Fruitville after the abundance of fruit in the area. Reeves would go on to become the postmaster for the area’s 115 residents. He would also donate the land for the first elementary school in Fruitville. The first church in Sarasota County was the Friendship Baptist Church. The church was chartered in 1875 and a small pine log structure was used for the congregation until a new church was erected in 1876, using some of the original lumber from the first church.

A map from 1902 shows Fruitville on the map as a community.

In May of 1918, Franklin Field (named after then mayor George Franklin) began operating as a military airfield during World War I. The Franklin airfield was located north of Fruitville road and east of what is now Tuttle road. The airfield was an auxiliary landing station for the U.S. Army Air Service and housed, at the least, several Curtiss JN “Jenny” planes. With the end of war, the airfield saw less and less traffic and was likely unused by 1920. In 1924 the land was developed for a new subdivision.