SARASOTA COUNTY HISTORY
As part of our Sarasota County 2021 Centennial Celebration, we welcome historian Dr. Frank Cassell, author of Creating Sarasota County (2017), and Suncoast Empire, Bertha Honore Palmer, Her Family, and the Rise of Sarasota (2019).
Frank will recount the dramatic history and tales of the men and women who led the county independence movement by the citizens of the Sarasota district, leading to the independence from Manatee in 1921 and the creation of Sarasota County. And it’s quite a story. Frank Cassell, Ph.D. is Professor Emeritus and President Emeritus at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg. He earned the B.A. degree at Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana, and his M.A. and Ph. D. degrees at Northwestern University. He taught and served as an administrator at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Roosevelt University in Chicago before taking the presidency at Pitt-Greensburg. Dr. Frank Cassell is chair of the Historic Centennial Steering Committee, received the silver award for nonfiction by the Florida Book Awards for Suncoast Empire and this latest 2019 book, Creating Sarasota County was written to provide historic support for the Sarasota County Centennial celebration. So, we are very fortunate to have him speak during the kickoff month of the 100 year anniversary of Sarasota County!