Sarasota's Newtown community is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places

Sarasota's predominately Black neighborhood of Newtown is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places after years of planning and strategic collaboration between Newtown historians and city leaders.

The historic district encompasses Myrtle Street to the north, 19 ^th Street to the south, Seminole Gulf Railway tracks to the west, and U.S. 301 to the east and has been the Newtown Historic District since late April. The federal designation adds a deeper layer of historical significance to the area, now set against a growing backdrop of new development stretching across the cityscape.

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The U.S. National Parks Service coordinates the national list, which serves as the official list of the nation's historic places worthy of preservation. Listings in the National Register of Historic Places is a recognition of an area's significance to the history of the community, state, or region.

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The city began seeking a historic designation in April 2009 following Newtown community members expressing a strong interest in preserving their prominently Black neighborhood. In a recent media release , Dr. Cliff Smith, a Senior Planner who oversees the City of Sarasota’s historic preservation program, said the designation was a significant accomplishment for all involved.

“Getting to this point truly was a community effort. Residents approached staff 15 years ago and wanted to know the best way to save Newtown’s cultural heritage and showcase its significance. It takes time to document so many historical resources, record personal histories, and present a case that an area meets the criteria for a national register designation," Smith said.

Smith lauded Newtown Alive founder and CEO Vickie Oldham, along with former and current Sarasota city commissioners, for their roles in documenting the history of Newtown and supporting the ongoing preservation efforts.

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Newtown holds Sarasota's 'cultural heritage'

The community of Newtown spurred from the city's first Black neighborhood of Overtown — a small stretch of streets where Sarasota's Black pioneers like Leonard Reid and Lewis Colson once laid the foundation for a bustling Black community in the late 1890s.

Vickie Oldham, a Sarasota native and historian, has been rediscovering and collecting the history of Black residents in the community since being tasked with preservation efforts by the city in 2015. She established the Newtown Alive trolley tour and developed and opened the city's first African-American Cultural Center, now hosting an art exhibition at the historic Leonard Reid Museum about the Civil Rights Movement across Sarasota and Tampa Bay.

Oldham plans to create and introduce Sarasota's cultural heritage to the world, she said.

"Of course, Sarasota is known for its world-class beaches, certainly the arts, the fine dining, shopping, and wealthy visitors, but not cultural tourism, not until this Newtown project began," she said.

Most recently, Oldham spearheaded a cultural heritage campaign to entice a selection committee to select Sarasota as the future site of a multi-million dollar Florida Museum of Black History; however, Sarasota was eliminated as a potential site in late April. The community of Newtown could still be selected as a potential satellite site for a museum or related purpose, she said during a recent interview.

"There are over 600 contributing structures, making it one of the largest historic districts in Florida, and our team provided the ammunition to take this from application to project to approval," Oldham said.

"This historical designation acknowledges Newtown's glorious but painful history and the many contributions of its pioneers to Sarasota's evolution."

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota's Newtown community is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places