A timely award of a $4,000 grant from the Arts and Cultural Alliance of Sarasota County to the Historical Society of Sarasota County has gone immediately to a project to stabilize and preserve the metal roof on the 1901 Crocker Memorial Church building at Pioneer Park in Sarasota. The heritage building, which is under the protection of the Historical Society, is the headquarters for the Historical Society and is used almost daily by the community for weddings, civic and cultural club meetings, music recitals, theater rehearsals, history book club, and for monthly membership meetings of the Historical Society as well as for Historical Society sponsored educational programs (including docent-led tours) that are open to the public.

“The Crocker Memorial Church building is our town’s model of a historical building that has eluded the wrecking ball through adaptive use,” said Site Manager, Linda Garcia. “Ever since it was built by Peter Crocker and his neighbors in 1901 at what is now the corner of Bee Ridge Road and US 41, it has been in constant use, first as a place of worship for several different congregations and since 2006 as a community gathering place. The building has been moved three times over the decades but now has a permanent home at Pioneer Park on 12th Street where the Historical Society is charged with protecting and preserving it.”