| Manatee County, Florida | ||
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Location in the state of Florida |
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Florida's location in the U.S. |
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| Founded | 9 January 1855 | |
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| Seat | Bradenton | |
| Area - Total - Land - Water |
893 sq mi (2,313 km²) 741 sq mi (1,919 km²) 152 sq mi (394 km²), 16.99% |
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| PopulationEst. - (2008) - Density |
315,766 357/sq mi (138/km²) |
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| Website | www.co.manatee.fl.us | |
Lakewood Ranch is an unincorporated master planned community in southeastern Manatee County, Florida, United States, built on part of what was once a timber ranch owned by members of Milwaukee's Uihlein family. It is part of the Bradenton-Sarasota-Venice, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population for the 34202 ZIP Code Tabulation Area, in which Lakewood Ranch is located, was 15,335 at the 2000 Census.[1]
Started in 1995, Lakewood Ranch has an 8,500-acre (3,400 ha) master-planned community within it. It is an up-and-coming family-oriented community, consisting of seven villages with a variety of housing types. The most recognizable feature about Lakewood Ranch is its award-winning green community, elected as the largest green-certified community in the United States as of 2009. Some other features about this neighborhood include recreation, shopping and dining, events and festivals, health and fitness, arts and culture, schools and colleges, employment, and worship opportunities.
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Lakewood Ranch is located within the Manatee County region in Florida. The area was the likely landing site for the Spanish explorer Hernando DeSoto along with his crew of conquistadors in 1539. Other explorers like Josiah Gates landed on the area as well, but it was later unofficially founded in 1855. Manatee County stretches almost 900 sq mi (2,300 km2) including waterways, which provided an exceptional source of transportation. Railroads, bridges, and roadways were eventually added for an easier access in and out of the area.
Along with transportation development came a rapid growth in population during the early 1920s. Others saw the area as a vacation destination and retirement place. Also, with the warm southern climate as an asset, baseball became a popular sport there, along with spring training camps and professional teams would travel down there. A few years later, after the Great Depression in the 1930s and World War II, other industries expanded, such as agriculture and fishing. Other developments in the industries were retail, education, and tourism. As the area expanded over the years, along with the population, a master-planned community was recently created called Lakewood Ranch.
About Lakewood Ranch
Lakewood Ranch has dedicated half of its land for parks, trails, and recreational fun. The trails alone stretch over 150 miles of the land.
Along with parks and trails that make up most of the land, Lakewood Ranch has also put great importance on golf and tennis. Four notable country clubs are Lakewood Ranch Golf and Country Club, Legacy Golf Club, the Ritz Carlton’s Members Club, and The Concession Golf Club. Lakewood Ranch Golf and Country Club provides three levels of courses to cater the right amount of difficulty to every player. The names of the three are King’s Dunes, Cypress Links, and Country Club East. These courses are private, along with the Ritz Carlton’s Members Club course. The Ritz Carlton is 315 acres (127 ha) of magnificently sculpted land capturing the natural beauty of its tropical environment. A non-membership course in Lakewood Ranch is the Legacy Golf Club, which is Arnold Palmer’s signature course. Lastly, the finest course with a very private community is the Concession Golf Club and Residences. It is a 1,200-acre (490 ha) reserve with 236 homes. Jack Nicklaus contributed it in association with Tony Jacklin. The unique features about the course are its inspiring and famous contributors, as well as the greens are air-conditioned and heated.
Tennis is not to be forgotten at Lakewood Ranch. The Athletic Center at Lakewood Ranch offers state of the art facilities along with 18 tennis courts. Sixteen of these courts are fast-dry and two are classic clay with HydroGrid watering for optimal playing conditions.
Other recreational activities include polo and cricket. Lakewood Ranch has nine world-class fields and a regulation size arena that can be played on throughout the winter season. The polo fields are located on 35 private ranches with over 600 horses stabled around the Club during the season.
Cricket at Lakewood Ranch is worthy of the world-class competition there. Founded more than 25 years ago, the Sarasota International Cricket Club houses its permanent facility at Lakewood Ranch. The fields have even been laser-leveled to improve the players’ match play and practice wickets.
Along with the Lakewood Ranch Athletic Center, another workout facility is the YMCA, just a couple miles away. Lakewood Ranch has its own Medical Center.
Main Street is the local downtown shopping, dining, and events center. It offers amenities like clothing and retail, food (grocery, wine, and spirits), restaurants (coffee shops, ice cream parlors, family-style, international cuisine), and art festivals.
The Sarasota-Bradenton area in general has been famously known for its Arts and Culture, which have bled into Lakewood Ranch. Some recognizable names of the area are The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, the ancestral Wallenda family circus troupe, and The Sarasota Film Society.
Main Street has its own theatre of six screens and shows new release movies, as well as independent films from the Sarasota Film Society. Other events at Main Street include the following: Music on Main, Evening Under the Stars, Suncoast Wine Festival, and Art at the Ranch. During the Christmas season, Main Street attracts locals by creating a huge tree in the middle of its circle drive, festive decorations, fake snow that fall from the store’s rooftops, and even Christmas music is piped in through speakers on the street.
The primary reason families live in Lakewood Ranch is the multitude of education it provides.
Public Schools
Private Schools
College
Vocational School
Lakewood Ranch houses 1,200 businesses around the ranch, including many independently owned shops.
The Lakewood Ranch Golf and Country Club offers a unique program that helps import workers from South Africa to create job opportunities. In an effort to provide opportunities to young adults in Cape Town, South Africa, Lakewood Ranch Golf and Country Club created a system to hire people for a short-term time period. The newly transferred employees from Cape Town are provided with housing within walking/biking distance to the Club. Other advantages of the program include: traveling to the United States and taking in the different culture, meeting and conversing with the members of the Club, paid in fair wages and hours, as well as, at the end of their time in the States, they are allowed to travel to other parts of the United States before returning home on their visa.
Lakewood Ranch has 21 places of worship:
Places of Worship:
- Bayside Community Church
- Chabad Lubavitch of Bradenton
- Christ Presbyterian Church
- Lakewood Church on the Ranch
- Cooper Creek Christian Church
- Cornerstone Church of Lakewood Ranch, PCA
- Evangel Baptist Church
- Faith Christian Church
- Harvest United Methodist Church
- Living Lord Lutheran Church
- Our Lady of the Angels Catholic Church
- Peace Presbyterian Church PCUSA
- Risen Savior Lutheran Church
- Sarasota Baptist Church
- Shepherd's Creek Churc
- St. Mary Magdalene Episcopal Church
- Temple Emanu-El
- The Family Church Christian Retreat
- West Coast Community Church
- Woodland Baptist Church
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