ISLAND HISTORY

Anna Maria Village is located at the end of a seven-mile long island with hundreds of years of history, and there are still many historical “secrets” in plain sight…that is if you know where to look! 

With a Population of 1,500 residents year round and beaches on all sides – Anna Maria Island is the perfect getaway for any ocean-seeker.  On the south of the island there are three busy vacation towns; Bradenton Beach and Holmes Beach and the historic village of Anna Maria Island.

In 1892 renowned traveler George Emerson Bean became the first permanent resident on the island, settling with his family near the North Point, now know as Bean Point.  George Emerson developed much of what is now the City of Anna Maria.

Bean’s son George “Will” Wilhelm Bean along with a number of associates established the Anna Maria Beach Company and further developed the island, building property, laying out streets and constructing a water system.

In the early 1900’s Charles Roser, cookie maker credited with inventing the Fig Newton (fig roll), became an associate of Bean’s and used his fortune earned in the baking business to invest in developing Anna Maria Island into becoming the finest resort on the west coast of Florida.  The developers built a dock at the end of Pine Avenue and a bathing pavilion where the Sandbar Restaurant sits today.

In 1897, Samuel Cobb and his Wife Annie, after meeting George Emerson Bean and hearing about Anna Maria, moved to the Island and became the parents of the first white child born on Anna Maria.  Fittingly, they named her after the Island

More people, some young entrepreneurs continued to settle on Anna Maria, bringing further development, phone lines, and building a bridge linking to the mainland.  And in 1909, the Island’s first resort lodge was built – The Gulf Park Hotel and Anna Maria Island ‘Florida’s Famous Year –Round Resort’ began taking shape.

Anna Maria Island was named and chartered before Florida became part of the United States and there are a number of versions of how the Island got its name.

The first is that it was named in honor of Mary, the Mother of Christ and her mother Ann.

In another tale, it was said that one of the first Spanish explorers is said to have named it after his mother Anna Maria.

It is also claimed that this Island received its name from government surveyors, who were staying with Madison Post in Tampa (the third mayor of Tampa), while surveying this part of the coast.  The granddaughter of Madison Post claims that the surveyors offered to name the Island for him, but he suggested naming it for his wife Maria and she suggested including her sister Anna.  Thus Anna Maria was put on their charts.  However, both women were Scottish and the name was in fact pronounced Anna Mar-eye-ah!

But it was not until 1943 that Washington  DC made the name official and when Northerners came to Florida after World War II, they made fun of the way some of the locals pronounced this Island’s name.  It was in 1948 that the pronunciation from Mar-eye-ah to Ma-ree-a

Anna Maria Island has continued to grow and the towns of Anna Maria, Holmes Beach and Bradenton Beach have become very popular tourist destinations in their own right, and each with their own unique history.

Still surrounded by calm and beautiful beaches, Anna Maria Island has a unique history and is an exceptional place to spend your vacation!