The area around Bradenton at the mouth of the Manatee River was discovered in 1539 by Hernando DeSoto who was searching for El Dorado, "the lost city of gold." His landing is celebrated each spring with the De Soto Heritage Festival. In 1842, settler Josiah Gates, enchanted with the slow-moving manatee, named by the Spaniards as a sea cow, started the town of Manatee. Within the next twenty years, sugar plantations were established along the river. The land’s agricultural prospects brought homesteaders and development. But during the Civil War, it was a refuge for Florida residents who sympathized with the North. Union troops sailed up the Manatee River and destroyed the sugar mills. During WWI and WWII, former military bases such as Fort Dade were reactivated to train soldiers.
The railroad had arrived by the turn of the century. Bridges and highways were built, connecting waterways. Just before the Depression, the area became a winter retreat for retirees and vacationers. In 1969, the Pittsburgh Pirates began spring training in Bradenton. Today, they train at a McKechnie Field. Bradenton has become a destination for visitors and new residents who seek an escape to Florida’s Gulf waters, mild climate and beautiful wilderness by the Manatee River.
