Palmetto Historical Commission

06/17/2026

Thursday, please join us at the Palmetto Historical Park when our sister museum, the Florida Maritime Museum will present a little "seashore" activity for the kids. It will be fun! The event is free to the public. See below for more details. We hope you'll join us.

Join Florida Maritime Museum on Thursday, June 18th from 9AM-12PM at Palmetto Historical Park for story time and a craft! Madi will read the book, “The Sea Knows” at 9:30am, 10:30am, and 11:30am. To pair with the story, they also have the materials to make your own jellyfish. No registration is required, craft materials are first come, first served.

This event is held here onsite at Palmetto Historical Park, 515 10th Ave W, Palmetto, FL 34221.

06/16/2026

This event is full and we can't accept any more attendees but thank you to everyone for your interest. We're excited to have a full house for Mayor West's presentation on Wednesday.

Join us as Mayor West shares highlights of Manatee County’s history, past and present! Stick around afterward to enjoy a free lunch (Publix sandwiches) sponsored by Palmetto Historical Commission. Free to attend - registration is not required but recommended!

Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1988578266125?aff=oddtdtcreator

06/16/2026

In 1912, on its maiden voyage, the Titanic struck an iceberg and sank. That same year, the Palmetto State Bank opened its doors. Located on 10th Avenue West in Palmetto, the bank weathered the 1927 banking crisis—reopening in just three months. Long term, though, it could not overcome the effects of the Great Depression and the bank's assets were sold to the Manatee County School Board. For a period of time, the old bank building served as Palmetto's City Hall.
After that, the building was the location for a number of businesses over the years. In 2025, a new owner had her own vision for the time-weathered space. For months, the new owner and family worked to renovate the building to give it a look that upgraded the space but kept the vintage feel.
When they were taking up the floors, they discovered the original tile from the bank and decided to keep it to honor the building's history. Here are some photos of the Palmetto State Bank then and now. In the photo with the tellers, you can see the tile work is the same as that in the photo of the restored floor below.

06/11/2026

There's still time to register for Palmetto mayor West's presentation on Palmetto history. The presentation will be held at the Carnegie Library AND free Pub subs provided to attendees. Please join us.

There's still time to register for our Guest Speaker event with Mayor Dan West on Wednesday, June 17 at 11:00 AM! Mayor West will be discussing how Manatee County grew into its present size and sharing stories about some of the citizens who have made a lasting impact on our community.

Stick around afterward for a complimentary lunch (Publix sandwiches) sponsored by Palmetto Historical Commission. Registration is not required to attend but it is recommended! Seating is limited!

Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1988578266125?aff=oddtdtcreator

06/10/2026

Some of you asked about tours of the Palmetto Carnegie Library. Here's the scoop on tours, which are held Tues-Fri. Reservations aren't required - just come to the Carnegie Library at the scheduled tour time.
If you have a group of 10 or more, we recommend you call and make a reservation (941-723-4991). Tours are subject to cancelation if the weather's bad. The guided tour includes the Library and the buildings in the Palmetto Historical Park.

🚨Important Announcement🚨

Due to the summer heat, our 2:00 PM tour will move to 11:00 AM beginning June 23 and continuing through September 18.

During this time, no 2:00 PM tour will be offered. We appreciate your understanding as we adjust our schedule to provide a more comfortable experience for our visitors.

Please help us spread the word by sharing this update with friends and family who may be planning a visit!

06/08/2026

We mentioned we wanted to say more about the Carnegie Library in Palmetto. Hundreds of people walk or drive past this beautiful building every day and have no idea what it took to get a Carnegie Library donated to Palmetto and what that meant to small towns back then.
In the 1800s and into the 1900s, public libraries were not the norm. Some wealthy people had their own libraries, but they weren't open to the public. Big changes began in 1883, when steel magnate Andrew Carnegie began donating money to towns throughout the US to help them build public libraries. Between 1883 and 1919, Carnegie funded over 2,500 libraries worldwide to improve public access to books and self-education.
Palmetto was one of the first towns in South Florida to be awarded a Carnegie library. The application process was done by mail. Many letters went back and forth between then-mayor of Palmetto W.B. Whitehead and James Bertram (Mr. Carnegie's personal secretary) in Pittsburgh, Pa. The mayor's request was initially rejected because Bertram claimed he'd misrepresented how many people lived in Palmetto. More letters. Eventually the mayor proved to Bertram's satisfaction that he had not overstated Palmetto's population.
But there were still more issues to iron out. Bertram advised the mayor that the library had to have a basement (this was a requirement for Carnegie Libraries). The mayor tried to convince Bertram that basements weren't suitable for buildings in Florida. More letters. The mayor lost that battle. Numerous other issues had to be worked through but eventually the mayor convinced Bertram that Palmetto deserved a Carnegie Library.
In December, 1914, Palmetto opened its first public library and the Tampa Tribune covered the story! In 1918, Bradenton's Carnegie Library was founded. Manatee County is the only county in Florida to have two Carnegie Libraries. Sadly, several of Florida's Carnegie Libraries have been demolished but both of Manatee County's still exist. They are reminders of the effort our forebearers made to ensure Palmetto's and Bradenton's citizens (especially children) would have free access to books and learning.
NOTE: The top two photos are the Bradenton Carnegie Library. The two bottom photos are the Palmetto Carnegie building.

06/06/2026

Great to see this presentation on Tropicana and its founder, Anthony Rossi, received coverage by ABC 7 News Sarasota. This joint effort between the Palmetto Library and the Manatee County Agricultural Museum was a really interesting presentation. These events as well as the ones at the Palmetto Historical Park are free and open to the public. We hope you'll join us in the future.

06/06/2026

Thanks to everyone who came to historian Jonathan Torkos' presentation on Palmetto in Postcards. Thanks to Jonathan for agreeing to speak and share your knowledge.

06/03/2026

This speaker event is this coming Saturday at 10 AM. Historian Jonathan Torkos will be sharing Palmetto's history through the lens of postcards. When we were kids and went on vacation, sending postcards about where we were to friends back home was a great way to communicate and say "we're staying at this cool place." There was no social media and making long distance calls back home was expensive, but we sent postcards.
Jonathan's talk will focus first on the importance of postcards to our culture and then shift to how postcards have portrayed Palmetto, Palm View, and Snead Island through the years. There will also be a Then & Now series of Palmetto buildings, businesses, churches, civic buildings, homes, motels/hotels, and recreation sites. We're looking forward to before and after images of the Bank of Palmetto, the Seahorse Gift shop, the Green Bridge, the Palmetto Civic Center, the Women's Club, and more.
Please join us and stick around for a complimentary lunch following the presentation.

We hope you will join us to welcome our special Guest Speaker, Jonathan Torkos for his talk, "Palmetto in Postcards"! The talk will be next Saturday, June 6 at 10 AM in the basement of the Carnegie Library at Palmetto Historical Park. Jonathan will explore Palmetto’s rich history through postcards from the Historical Records Library's collection. After the presentation, stick around, lunch will be provided courtesy of the Palmetto Historical Commission. Free to attend - no reservations required!

06/01/2026

We took a little sunset walk around the Palmetto Historical Park. The Carnegie Library building, which faces the Palmetto Library, is part of the Historical Park and is the center of operations. Many of the events at the park, from children's activities to speaker presentations, are held in the Library. It's the only building in the PHP that's open to the public most weekdays and some Saturdays.
The Library holds many of Palmetto's archives and historical artifacts, which are catalogued and cared for by employees who are very knowledgeable about Palmetto's history. And the Library has a basement (not many of those in Florida)!
Photos- the Carnegie Library with the chapel in the background, the historic post office and schoolhouse, and the chapel.