About Our Community

---

The history of our community is one of the many characteristics that contributes to its unique charm. Where now stand beach cottages and sidewalks, before was a dense jungle. Our earliest residents had to face rattlesnake, wildcats, and panthers just to create our first makeshift road. The initial 160 acres on Anna Maria Island were homestead by Sam and Annie Cobb in 1896. We have the Cobb's to thank for our first Island post office as well, which they ran out of their own home starting in 1902. That was just the beginning of what would soon become a thriving and buoyant Island community.

Our city's unique name derived from a man named J.E Holmes, Sr. who first came to the Island in 1907 to work on the construction of the East Coast railroad stretching from Miami to the Keys. He re-sought out the Island after World War II, and with the help of his friends Frank Giles, Peder Mickelsen, and Francis Karel, began developing the Island into a 600-acre community. The idea was to create a "home community of modest proportions in a luxurious setting." And they couldn't have picked a better place. In addition to creating a comfortable residential space, the Holmes family also made sure there was room to enjoy the outdoors, donating recreational land adjacent to City Hall to be used for baseball and soccer fields where they have remained.