Englewood's Early Pioneers

The Bartlett Family

James Elwood Bartlett was the largest individual feed and grain operator in the state of Michigan. Being the astute merchant he was, maybe he foresaw the horseless future that was rapidly approaching. Or maybe he was just bitten by the warm weather sunshine bug. What ever the reason by 1915 he had sold his very successful business and relocated with his wife Nellie and their four children to Boca Grande.

Soon another child was born who would later become a prominent Englewood citizen, Leah Bartlett Lasbury. She said her father bought extensive orange groves in several parts of Florida, hotels and in the early 1920s started buying land here in Englewood. At one point in time, he was one of the largest land owners in our area. He owned about 40,000 acres altogether, some of which is now Manasota Key and Casperson Beach.

One part of his holdings included 16,000 acres that started on the north side of Dearborn Street and meandered unevenly north beyond Forked Creek. It encompassed what are now the residential areas of Alameda Isles, Englewood Isles and Overbrook Gardens. Mr. Bartlett once took Sgt. Alvin C. York, the famous W.W.I hero, on a fishing trip out of Englewood.

The Biorseth Family

Carrie and Carl Biorseth settled here in 1894. Carl would eventually be known as “The Bee-man” because of the large bee business he and Carrie would develop.

Carrie is given credit for actually starting the bee business. In about 1910 she caught a colony of wild bees. In time she enlarged it to several colonies and proceeded to sell honey.

About that same time, Mr. Biorseth, a former newspaper editor, was having a difficult time supporting his family in the tiny community of Englewood. It was decided Carrie and the children would continue to run the farm at their homestead on the Mystic River (later to be renamed Forked Creek), while Carl would move to Sarasota. He would work doing wallpaper hanging, painting and carpentry.

The Chadwick Family

The Chadwick family settled in Englewood at the turn of the last century. They ran a very successful fish business in Englewood and Punta Gorda. Over the years they acquired a large amount of land on Manasota Key. In 1926 they started developing their property which was called the Chadwick Beach Subdivision.

At first they ferried perspective customers from the mainland to the Key by ferry boat, a 26-foot gasoline-powered open boat. They soon decided in order for their subdivision to be successful it would be more advantageous to build bridges across Lemon Bay. By 1927, Englewood had it’s first mainland-to-key connection thanks to the enterprising and foresighted Chadwick brothers. There were two bridges built. One was a large one that went from the mainland to what we now know as Sandpiper Key. A shorter one went from Sandpiper Key to Manasota Key.