Archaeology, spring training, but no port: Five things to know about North Port

Staff Report
·3 min read
Warm Mineral Springs is both an archeological site once believed to be the location of the fountain of youth and a park that includes three structures built for the 1959 state of Florida quadricentennial celebration. The springs and the structures are all on the National Register of Historic Places.
Warm Mineral Springs is both an archeological site once believed to be the location of the fountain of youth and a park that includes three structures built for the 1959 state of Florida quadricentennial celebration. The springs and the structures are all on the National Register of Historic Places.

North Port is located in southern Sarasota County on the west coast of Florida. It doesn't have any beachfront property on the Gulf of Mexico, but it does straddle the Myakka River and sits adjacent to the Myakka River State Park.

Here are five things you may not know about the biggest city in Sarasota County.

North Port started as a way for a developer to get around regulations

North Port was originally incorporated as North Port Charlotte on June 18, 1959, after employees of General Development Corp. and their families moved to a 5.5-square-mile area of Sarasota County then known as Charlotte Springs and voted to incorporate. GDC, the developer of neighboring Port Charlotte in Charlotte County, took that novel approach because it allowed the developer to skirt a Sarasota County requirement for developers to improve home sites before they would be approved. The name was eventually shortened to North Port. The city grew to 76 square miles by the time GDC went bankrupt in 1990.

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There is no 'port' in North Port

Many who first hear of the city expect to find a port there. The only municipality in Sarasota County without a beach, North Port is landlocked but does have 80 miles of canals and waterways – including the Myakkahatchee Creek, which drains into the Myakka River and Charlotte Harbor, Florida's second-largest estuary. The canals and waterways were dug by GDC to drain the land to build homes. North Port is also home to a portion of the Myakka State Forest.

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North Port High School held their commencement ceremony on the football field and graduated just over 400 students.
North Port High School held their commencement ceremony on the football field and graduated just over 400 students.

North Port is large and young (for the area)

Covering roughly 105 square miles following a series of annexations, North Port is the largest municipality in Sarasota County both by size and population, and one of the largest by land area in Florida. According to the U.S. Census, the city had 74,793 residents as of April 1, 2020. North Port is also the youngest city in Sarasota County, with a median age of 46.1, and more than 20% of the residents are age 18 and younger.

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The spa building at the Warm Mineral Springs Park, along with an accompanying sales building and a cyclorama are on the National Register for Historic Places. Restoration of the buildings, which are believed to be designed by Jack West of the Sarasota School of Architecture for the State of Florida Quadricentennial Celebration in 1959, is part of the scope of the master plan to develop Warm Mineral Springs.

North Port is an archaeological hotbed

Though a relatively new city, North Port is also an archaeological treasure chest. The banks of the Myakkahatchee Creek have been frequented by fossil collectors. Little Salt Springs and Warm Mineral Springs – both of which are on the National Register of Historic Places – offer archeologists a glimpse into the lives of prehistoric residents. Little Salt Springs is owned by the University of Miami and is heavily controlled. Warm Mineral Springs, which is owned by the city of North Port, was reputed as one possible spot explored by Ponce de Leon as the location of the fountain of youth. Three structures on the springs site, which were built for the state’s Quadricentennial Celebration in December, 1959, are also on the National Register. The city is in the process of restoring those buildings. 

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The Atlanta Braves hosted the Minnesota Twins during an afternoon spring training game at Cool Today Park in North Port, Fl.
The Atlanta Braves hosted the Minnesota Twins during an afternoon spring training game at Cool Today Park in North Port, Fl.

Spring training in North Port

North Port is probably best known nationally – at least to baseball fans – as the spring training home of the Atlanta Braves, which conducts its Florida operations out of Cool Today Park in Wellen Park. Wellen Park is carved out of the former Taylor Ranch – 26 square miles of which were annexed by the city between 2000 and 2003. A 2015 breakfast meeting between Marty Black, then an official with the West Villages Improvement District, and Atlanta Braves Vice Chairman John Schuerholz at the Major League Baseball Winter Meetings in Nashville resulted in napkin sketches of what evolved into the complex. 

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Five things to know about North Port, Florida in Sarasota County