Editing Nokomis, Florida (section)

== History ==
[[File:Interior of Knights Chapel - Nokomis, FL.jpg|thumb|Interior of the Knight Chapel, which was destroyed by the 1926 Hurricane.]]
The first white settlers in what is now known as Nokomis were the Knights and at least 3 other families who moved to the area in 1868. The Knights had initially raised cattle further inland during the [[American Civil War]] in an effort to avoid raids by the Union army. Following the end of hostilities, they moved closer to the shore, in the hopes that the climate of the coastal areas were better for their health. The area was initially called Horse and Chaise, which included modern day [[Venice, Florida|Venice]]. Knight donated the land for the first school and also helped build the first chapel.<ref name="Berry">{{cite book |last1=Berry |first1=Joan |title=The Homesteaders: Early Settlers of Nokomis and Laurel |date=2008 |pages=15–16 |edition=Revised}}</ref>

In 1917, Alfred F. Wrede established the first post office with the name of Nokomis southwest of the original Venice post office. The same year, orthopedic surgeon Dr. Fred Albee purchased 112 acres from the Sarasota-Venice Company. With Ellis W. Nash, Albee created the Nokomis subdivision by subdividing the property into 130 lots, with streets radiating from two inner avenue circles and the new asphalt highway, which eventually became U.S. 41. On U.S. 41, Albee and investors built the Pollyanna Inn, a 35-room hotel.<ref>{{Cite web|title=FOUR: HISTORICAL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESOURCES|url=http://naca-nokomis.com/history/Chapter4NokomisHistory.pdf}}</ref>

The [[American Guide Series|Florida guide]], compiled in the late 1930s and first published in 1939, listed Nokomis's population as 79 and described it as "a suburb of Venice, […] separated from that town by Shackett Creek…"<ref name="auto">{{cite book |last=Federal Writers' Project |date=1947 |edition= 5th |title=Florida: A Guide to the Southernmost State |url=https://archive.org/details/floridaguidetoso00fede/page/394/mode/2up?q=Nokomis |location=New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=395}}</ref>