The lemons froze, the town stayed
Englewood sits on the mainland shore of Lemon Bay, across the water from Manasota Key, and it reaches across the line between Sarasota and Charlotte counties. The first known settlers, William and Mary Goff, came to the bay in 1878, lived in a tent, then built a log cabin on 60 acres. The track they wore riding to and from home later became Dearborn Street.
In 1896 the Nichols brothers of Englewood, Illinois, platted a new town here and borrowed both its name and its street names from home. Their plan was to sell Englewood as a great lemon growing district. Two hard freezes in the mid 1890s killed most of the young trees, and the developers gave up on the idea. The bay kept its name anyway.
With no roads, supplies came in by sailboat. In 1913 Peter and Florence Buchan built a two story store and post office at Dearborn and Olive streets, with a dock running 250 feet into Lemon Bay, and other merchants followed. Englewood incorporated in 1925 to win a place on the new Tamiami Trail. The route later moved, but Dearborn stayed the heart of old Englewood, and the Lemon Bay Historical Society says fishing was the pioneers' main industry and main source of food.
Pioneer Days and the mullet roast
Local journalist Jo Cortes started Englewood Pioneer Days in 1956, to honor the town's founders and to bring customers to local shops in the slow season. The early program had a parade, a sailing regatta, a water ski show, a seafood dinner, a shipwreck dance and a barbecue. Today it is a two week run of events across August and September, with a cardboard boat race, a diaper derby, historical tours from the Lemon Bay Woman's Club and a kids' fishing contest. The parade on Dearborn Street is billed as the longest continuously running parade in Florida.
Food has always been part of it. When the Lemon Bay Historical Society got organized in 1984, its first big job was a mullet roast for 150 people at that year's Pioneer Days, on September 2. Members of the Platt family caught the mullet, and swamp cabbage was cooked to a family recipe from one of the pioneer households. The society's winter Cracker Fair keeps the lemon story alive with a Lemon Dessert Baking Contest, and the 2026 fair added a cast net demonstration, a reminder of how the pioneers filled their tables.
