After all, this much fish is way too much for dinner tonight. (Photo from Florida Memory.)
On this day in history, December 12, 1902, the Sarasota Ice, Fish, and Power Company was granted the first permit to construct a commercial plant smack dab in town. (It was located, according to one source, near Lemon Avenue and State Street.) Sarasota had been a town for less than 2 months at that point.
SIFP generated electricity to make ice to keep the catch fresh. It wasn’t for seven more years that Sarasota got street lights (2, count ’em, 2) and from that point on, there was nothing but progress progress progress. (Well, except for the Bust. Another tale to tell.)
We’re happy to announce that this fishy Day in History is dedicated to Elisabeth Waters,
who was gifted with a “Claim Your Day” by Alexandra Jupin in our effort to keep our head above water in this economically-challenging pandemic time. If you’d like us to find an appropriate Day in History for you to claim, you can get the details here.
The Historical Society of Sarasota County 
Suggestion: Put the donation credits at the beginning of your article instead of at the end. I read the fish story and almost clicked off before seeing the donation credits at the end. Marie Rowe
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Donate to help here. Thank you Marie, and thanks for donating and for reading the article (not necessarily in that order!) I would hope that those interested in the history of our area would realize that even a small monthly donation would help keep HSoSC alive in these trying times. If everyone who follows us on our online channels would donate just a few dollars on a monthly basis, that would be so helpful! Donate $5, $10, your choice a month here.