SARASOTA, Fla. — As the celebration of Black History Month winds down, restorations continue at the Historic Leonard Reid House in Sarasota's Newtown Community.
The Sarasota African American Cultural Coalition, in collaboration with Newtown Alive and the city of Sarasota, has grand plans to turn it into an African American Museum.
Last summer, crews moved the house to the intersection of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Orange Avenue.
The house is one of the lasting symbols of Leonard Reid's legacy in the city of Sarasota. Efforts to bring the house back to life as a cultural center are part of a significant push to preserve parts of old Florida's African American history.
To the unassuming, the 1,400-square-foot structure is a just simple-looking old house, but the blue bungalow with stand-out orange doors carries a wealth of history.
The house was built in 1926 by Reid who was born in Greenwood, South Carolina, in 1881. Reid was known as one of Sarasota's influential pioneer Black settlers and an icon in the community after he arrived in 1900.
"On this very porch, where we are partly standing, kids would pass by and books would be handed out to the children in the Overtown community," said Vicki Oldham, President and CEO of Sarasota African American Cultural Coalition.
"Leonard Reid was an African American man, very, very brilliant. He came through Sarasota on a boat with some Italian fishermen. They were headed to Cuba to get into the fishing industry and they stopped by Sarasota to refuel."
According to his family, Reid got distracted by a celebration in the black community of Overtown in the present-day Rosemary District of downtown Sarasota.
"By the time he got back to the boat, it had already left him, and so he was left here in Sarasota to figure it out to find a way for himself," Oldham explained.
According to Oldham, Reid, who was educated, hustled hard doing odd jobs and found his way to working for and becoming a right-hand man to Col. John Hamilton Gillespie, Sarasota's first mayor.
"He ran his household," she said. "He was with Gillespie as he mapped out golf courses here and throughout the state of Florida."
Reid helped design some of those golf courses, became a community leader in the African American community, and founded the city's second Black church, Payne Chapel.
While Reid faced racism and discrimination, common at the time, even in the constant company of Mayor Gillespie, Oldham said he was able to achieve a lot of things that his peers could not.
"His life was a lot different than other African Americans. I mean you know, he would be considered living in the big house," Oldham said.
Reid married his wife Eddye Coleman who worked for Gillespie as a maid and cook in 1901. Through his friendship and with counsel from Gillespie, he bought land, was able to later build their home in Overtown, and eventually moved from the Gillespie home.
In May 2022, the community gathered, joined by elected officials and staff of the city of Sarasota, for a sendoff celebration for the Historic Leonard Reid House.
"It's amazing that it's still standing and that we can do something positive with it," Mary Simmons-Mack of Newtown said ahead of the event.
Simmons-Mack, who is a grand-niece, recalled coming to her great uncle's house with her grandmother when she was 6 years old.
"It's part of my family history," she said. "It means an awful lot and it is something that we can move forward for the children of our communities and this cultural center will help them know their true history."
"We need to know exactly what the truth is about especially now when you're trying to hide everything and not tell the truth about our real history," Simmons-Mack said.
"That's what this house represents, character. To instill character and pride back into our community, a community that is on the fringe right now," then-Vice Mayor Kyle Battie said. Battie is now the current mayor of Sarasota.
"For the longest time what was known as the Village of Overtown and Newtown, there was no written history. There was no way to tell the stories, the stories that are very, very important to us today," Former Sarasota Mayor Erik Arroyo said.
The house was moved in a 2.6-mile journey to its current location on Orange Avenue at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Way. It was donated to the city by the owners who acquired the land to become the first home of the Sarasota African American Cultural Center (SAACC) and History Museum.
"We, with the city of Sarasota's assistance, kept moving forward to overcome obstacles, and we refused to let this dream fall apart. Our gratitude and appreciation to the City Commission for jumpstarting the history project and supporting the effort at every step," Oldham told 10 Tampa Bay in a previous statement at the time of the move.
According to Oldham, moving the house from its previous location on 7th Street to its current location was significant.
"This is the center of town, almost all its people see it, you know, and our activities are going to be promoted just because of the location where this house is and this is city owned property and so it's special," she said.
The organization recently received an anonymous donation of $100,000 towards the repairs and renovations. They plan to complete setting up the house as a museum to welcome members of the public by April 2023.