In this Herald file photo taken in the early 1990s, workers are shown painting the outside of the Old Schoolhouse at the Manatee Village Historical Park, 1404 Manatee Ave. E., Bradenton. The Bradenton Board of Adjustment gave the Manatee County Historical Commission a special zoning permit to build the historical park in August 1975. The City of Bradenton leased the property on the corner of Manatee Avenue East and 15th Street East. Within weeks of getting the permit, the historic 1887 Manatee United Methodist Church building and the original 1855 Manatee County Courthouse were moved to the park. The commission obtained the Wiggins General Store in 1985, and over the years added the Settler's House, the Fogarty Boatworks, the 1903 Bunker Hill Schoolhouse, the Cow Hunters' Bunkhouse, and several other buildings to the park.
The Wiggins General Store sat boarded up until the Manatee County Historical Society raised enough money to rehabilitate the building.
In 1987 renovation began on the 1903 building, one of the first commercial structures in Manatee County built with bricks.
The preserved Wiggins General Store, as it appears today, serves as a welcome center to the historical park.
All of the above photos are from the Herald archives.
No comments:
Post a Comment