A one-story frame vernacular building completed in 1926, the Leonard Reid home was originally located on Coconut Avenue. A highly respected African American pioneer of early Sarasota, Reid helped establish Sarasota's first black community, Overtown. Working for a fish merchant in 1900, Reid was introduced to Colonel Hamilton Gillespie, a prominent Sarasota developer and its first mayor. Reid worked closely with Gillespie until his death in 1923. Reid met and married Eddye Coleman in 1901, and the couple moved to this small rental house. In 1906, he and Eddye helped to establish Sarasota's second oldest African American church, Payne Chapel, an African Methodist Episcopal Methodist Church.

Information provided by Florida Department of State.

Photo courtesy of Ebyabe.