SARASOTA

resort city, seat (1921) of Sarasota county, west-central Florida, U.S. It lies along Sarasota Bay, 52 miles (84 km) south of Tampa. Sarasota, variously spelled Sara Zota and Sarasote, appeared on maps in the 1700s, but the origin of the place-name is unknown. Scottish settlers arrived in 1885, and after 1910 Mrs. Potter Palmer, a Chicago socialite, popularized the place as a resort and established a model cattle ranch there. In 1927 John Ringling selected Sarasota as winter headquarters for the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, a position relinquished to nearby Venice in 1960. Tourism, cattle raising, and vegetable farming form the city's economic base. Sarasota is known for the Ringling museums, which include a large gallery of Baroque art with a fine collection of Peter Paul Rubens' works; the Asolo Theater (1790), brought from Venice and reassembled by the state of Florida; Ca' d'Zan, the palatial home of John Ringling, completed 1925; and the Museum of the Circus. The Circus Hall of Fame, Sarasota Jungle Gardens, and the Mayakka River State Park are nearby. The University of South Florida, Sarasota campus (1975), includes New College, founded in 1960; the Ringling School of Art and Design was founded in 1931. Inc. city, 1902. Pop. (1990) city, 50,961; Sarasota Metropolitan Statistical Area, 277,776.