Venice, Florida
Venice is a city in Sarasota County, Florida, United States. The city includes what locals call "Venice Island", a portion of the mainland that is accessed via bridges over the artificially created Intracoastal Waterway. The city is located in Southwest Florida. As of the 2020 Census, the city had a population of 25,463. Venice is part of the North Port–Sarasota–Bradenton metropolitan statistical area. History. The area that is now Venice was originally the home of Paleo-Indians, with evidence of their presence dating back to 8200 BCE. As thousands of years passed, and the climate changed  and some of the Pleistocene animals that the Indians hunted became extinct, the descendents of the Paleo-Indians found new ways to create stone and bone weapons to cope with their changing environment. These descendents became known as the Archaic peoples. Evidence of their camps along with their stone tools were discovered in parts of Venice. Over several millennia the culture and people who lived in the area changed. The peoples who the Spanish encountered when they arrived in 1500s were mound-builders. Venice lay in a boundary area between two cultures, the Tocobaga and the Calusa, and so you  can find evidence of each in the area. The 1800s is when the area saw the first wave of "European" settlers. Venice was first known as Horse and Chaise because of a carriage-like tree formation that marked the spot for fishermen. In the 1870s, Robert Rickford Roberts established a homestead near a bay that bears his name today, Roberts Bay. Francis H. "Frank" Higel, originally from France, arrived in Venice in 1883 with his wife and six sons. He purchased land in the Roberts' homestead for $2,500, , to set up his own homestead. Higel established a citrus operation  involving the production of several lines of canned citrus items, such as jams, pickled orange peel, lemon juice, and orange wine. Higel established a post office in 1885 with the name Eyry as a service for the community's thirty residents. In February he was appointed as postmaster but the office was shut down months later, in November 1885, with services moving back to Osprey. In 1888, another post office was established, this time with the name Venice, a name Higel himself suggested because of its likeness to the canal city in Italy. During the Florida land boom of the  1920s, Fred H. Albee, an orthopedic surgeon renowned for his bone-grafting operations, bought from Bertha Palmer to develop Venice. He hired John Nolen to plan the city and create a master plan for the streets. Albee sold the land to the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and retained Nolen as city planner. The first portions of the city and infrastructure were constructed in 1925–1926. Geography. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and , or 8.19%, is water. The climate of Venice is Humid Subtropical, bordering very closely on a  Tropical Savanna climate and features pronounced wet and dry seasons. Demographics. As of the census of 2000, there were 17,764 people, 9,680 households, and 5,362 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,948.8 inhabitants per square mile (752.1/km). There were 13,516 housing units at an average density of 1,482.8 per square mile (572.2/km). The racial makeup of the city was 98.14% White, 0.55% African American, 0.14% Native American, 0.41% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.24% from other races, and 0.51% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.10% of the population. There  were 9,680 households, out of which 7.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.2% were married couples living together, 4.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 44.6% were non-families. 40.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 30.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 1.76 and the average family size was 2.25. In the city, the population was spread out, with 6.9% under the age of 18, 2.3% from 18 to 24, 10.2% from 25 to 44, 23.1% from  45 to 64, and 57.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 69 years. For every 100 females, there were 76.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 75.8 males. The median income for a household in the city was $37,536, and the median income for a family was $46,898. Males had a median income of $35,271 versus $26,132 for females. The per capita income for the city was $28,220. About 3.7% of families and 5.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 14.4 % of those under age 18 and 3.7% of those age 65 or over. Arts and culture. Annual cultural events. Venice has been listed in several publications as being the "Shark's Tooth Capital of the World". It hosts the Shark's Tooth Festival every year to celebrate the abundance of fossilized shark's teeth that can be found on its coastal shores. Museums and other points of interest. The following structures and areas are listed on the National Register of Historic Places: Media. Venice's newspaper is the "Venice Gondolier Sun". It is published twice each week and has a  circulation of 13,500 copies. Tampa Bay's Univision affiliate WVEA-TV is licensed to Venice, though it is based in Tampa and broadcasts from Riverview. Infrastructure. Transportation. Venice is served by U.S. Highway 41, which runs north–south on the western side of Florida; Interstate 75 is a short distance east of Venice. Passenger railroad service, served by the Seaboard Coast Line, last ran to the station in 1971, immediately prior to the Amtrak assumption of passenger rail operation. Previously Venice was one of the Florida destinations of the "Orange Blossom Special." Venice Municipal Airport is a city managed public -use airport located south of the central business district. Law enforcement. Venice is patrolled by the Venice Police Department, Tom Mattmuller is the current Chief of Police. The small department has special units for bike patrols, traffic patrols, and boat patrols, amongst the normal police services provided. There are a total of 47 police officers that serve Venice.