Florida Historical Markers Programs - Marker Detail
MANATEE MINERAL SPRING
Location:14th Street East between 2nd Ave E and 4th Ave E.
County: Manatee
City: Bradenton
Description: Here flowed a spring which had been used by Indians and was found by Manatee's first white settler, Josiah Gates, who settled nearby in January 1842. It served Branch Fort, when the early settlers camped nearby for protection from the Seminole raid of 1856. During this encampment, the first child born (March 4, 1856) was Furman Chairs Whitaker, who became Manatee County's first native born doctor, practicing here from 1896, until shortly before his death in 1945. In the early 1900's the spring became the center of a small park which included a picnic pavilion.
Sponsors: Florida Board of Parks and Historic Memorials in Cooperation with Manatee County Historical Society