Suncoast Empire: Bertha Honore Palmer Her Family and the Rise of Sarasota 1910-1982

Silver Medal Florida Book Awards NonfictionIn the early 20th century Bertha Palmer was one of the best-known and wealthiest women in America. She was an art collector womens rights advocate businesswoman owner of Chicagos Palmer House Hotel and had elegant homes in Chicago Paris and London. In 1910 she traveled to the small and rough settlement called Sarasota on the west coast of Florida. For some reason she decided to spend much of each year for the rest of her life on one of Americas last frontiers investing in cattle and farming creating communities out of marshlands pine forests and tropical jungles. The society queen and social reform advocate excelled as a frontier entrepreneur just as she had in every other endeavor in her life. She managed to make a good deal of money and to change Sarasota forever.