This gallery consists of photos that my parents, Walter and OUida Verizzo, and I have located from various sources over the 50 plus years we've had the family home here. The first ones come from Sarasota County in 1948. But here's a mystery. About 2010 I went down to the city hall for help in accessing aerials, and they pulled up county records from 1926. Cool! Back home I found them online and selected areas to save to PNG files. A year or two later, I tried to re-access th3 1926 database and it no longer existed! Further, when I examined the 1926 images with the 1948, they were exactly the same. Conclusion: There was no 1926 imaging. If there were, the technology of both the planes and the photography would have been quite primitive.

The 1948 images show an as yet undeveloped Weber Subdivision where our home is, and an undeveloped Tahiti Park on the other side of the bayou. What is now a seawalled canal along our western property edge can be seen as a short drainage. I have some preliminary info that yet another artesian well was at the northern point of the canal, hence the drainage to the bayou. There were many artesian wells here once upon a time. The Lowe's Boatyard was already a thriving business.

On the west side of the drainage is a structure that I'm told was Mr. Weber's. You can also see that in 1948 there was some sort of circular drive and docks on Sylvan Drive at about Chippewa. A fishing camp? And that there is development at what is now the west end of 22nd at Alameda. Also, the native vegetation is mostly pine on sand, not the jungle of today.

By mid 1950's, the Weber subdivision has been platted, the canal dug, and our Sylvan Drive is still pretty sparse. No canopy.

Included are three postcards, front and back. One is of the Paradise Court, built about 1949 on what was then Broadway, now US 41/North Tamiami Trail. The site is now the home of The Marietta Museum of Art & Whimsy, www.whimsymuseum.org. Also, two postcards of the old Lido Casino on Lido Key.

The beautiful aerial of our home was the work of an enterprising man. He knocked on the door one day with it, and Mom and Dad bought it for $50, IIRC. It's amazing to see how much growth of the non-palm trees has taken place since.

Click on any image to see a larger version.