Myakka City, Florida

Myakka City (also Myakka) is an unincorporated community in southeastern Manatee County, Florida, United States. It lies along State Road 70 near the city of Bradenton, the county seat of Manatee County.[1] Its elevation is 43 feet (13 m), and it is located at 27°20′59″N 82°9′41″W (27.3497671, -82.1614780).[2] Although Myakka is unincorporated, it has a post office, with the ZIP code of 34251;[3] the ZCTA for ZIP code 34251 had a population of 6,351 at the 2010 census.[4] up from 4,239 in 2000.[5]

History

A post office called Myakka City has been in operation since 1915.[6] Myakka is a name believed to be derived from an unidentified Native American language from the same word used as the namesake for Miami.[7]

Compiled in the late 1930s and first published in 1939, the Florida guide listed Myakka City's population as 125 and described it as:

a roadside settlement and trading center for near-by truck farmers and citrus growers along the Miakka River ... In this section live many old-time Floridians, who settled here shortly after the War between the States. Almost all are landowners; their sun-bleached one-story frame houses, with center hall or 'breezeway,' sit well back from sandy roads. They are raised high above the ground on posts to prevent dry rot and to escape attacks of termites; all have vine-shaded verandas, occupied on Sunday by a rocking-chair brigade; even the poorest houses have well-tended vegetable and flower gardens about them, and in many cases a few citrus trees. These people live on their own garden produce, slaughter and cure their own meats, and depend on the market for little. [8]

— Federal Writers' Project, "Part III: The Florida Loop", Florida: A Guide to the Southernmost State (1947)

A 1940 US Census enumeration district map showing Myakka City within Manatee County.

See also

• Mayaca (tribe), which uses a variant spelling but is pronounced the same as Myakka
• Port Mayaca, Florida, a settlement on the eastern shore of Lake Okeechobee

References

1. Rand McNally. The Road Atlas '08. Chicago: Rand McNally, 2008, p. 25.
2. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Myakka City, Florida
3. Zip Code Lookup
4. "U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved February 14, 2016.
5. "U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved January 31, 2008.
6. "Manatee County". Jim Forte Postal History. Retrieved June 6, 2015.
7. Grimes, David (November 23, 1979). "The Legends Behind Manatee Names". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. pp. 3B. Retrieved June 6, 2015.
8. Federal Writers' Project (1947). Florida: A Guide to the Southernmost State (5th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. p. 470. ISBN 9781595342089.