On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Manasota Key is more historic than 6% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Manasota Key’s overall grade.
Few Florida towns list much on the Register (a typical Florida town has 0.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Manasota Key’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (33% of Florida towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share (±0.6 points) is firm at this size.
Founding year: our sources. Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Manasota Key’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
"Manasota Key" refers to an 11-mile-long (18 km) peninsula (transformed into a barrier island by the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway) that continues north into Sarasota County. The name originated from Manasota Lumber Company, a Maryland-based timber company with a sawmill in Woodmere from 1918 to 1923.
The community of Englewood Beach occupies the Charlotte County portion of the key, while the Sarasota County part of the peninsula contains the community of Manasota Beach. The key continues north as Caspersen Beach, extending as far as the Venice city limits.
Manasota Key is more historic than 6% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
How old are the homes in Manasota Key?
0.0% of Manasota Key’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 0.6% for a Florida town; the median home was built in 1985.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikipedia and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
