During the late 1800s, a Frenchman, Charles St. Amand purchased 132 acres of today's Lido Key for an amazing price of $21.71. A few years later, John Ringling of circus fame, envisioned a planned development at Florida's St. Armand's Key and had stepped in by 1917. Amand was mis-spelled in the process and remains St. Armand today. By 1926 the causeway from Sarasota, was complete, and the first day of real estate sales totaled more than a million dollars. As the late 1920s depression era set in, St. Armand was abandoned.
Ringling's initial development for St. Armand's Circle lives on today. The circle is lined with fine restaurants, art galleries, elegant shops and some of the area's finest hotels. Saint Armand's has become one of Sarasota area's finest attractions.