User:Tamiamidrmn/Woodmere.Florida

Woodmere, Florida is

From 1918 to 1923 the town of Woodmere was the center of the lumber industry in Sarasota County, Florida. Woodmere lied on the Englewood-Venice Road. This sandy trail was located approixmately a mile east of the current Englewood Road (State Route 776.) The town was located approximately one mile south of the present day intersection of the Tamiami Trail (US Route 41) and Englwood Road (State Route 776.)  Woodmere at it's height held a population of approximately 1,500. The town was the sole property of the Manasota Lumber Company which owned the 240 acres comprised of the town and adjacent timber land. Through the use of timber rights the company cleared thousands of acres in Southern Sarasota County. The town was at it's height during the lumber boom which occurred after the end of World War I. Ground was broken on the first sawmill in Woodmere on October 19, 1918.

The holdings of the lumber company were part of a grant of 753,000 acres of land given in 1884 by the State of Florida to the Tampa, Peace Creek and St. Johns River Railroad, which later changed its name to the Jacksonville, Tampa and Key West Railway Company. The state at that time would deed 10,000 acres for any mile of railroad track built. A total of 451,115 acres was granted in Manatee County, which included present day Sarasota County.

The entire settlement comprised of ten acres. The Manasota Lumber Company maintained a commissary, 1,200 person dining hall, machine shop, railroad yard, recreation hall and a movie theatre. The site was surrounded by electric wire fence. No one was allowed to leave, or enter, after 9:00 p.m. The exception to this policy was on Saturdays when the company train would transport workers and their families to Sarasota.