Bay Haven School was one of two elementary schools built in Sarasota from identical plans to accommodate population growth from the 1920s real estate boom. Bay Haven and Southside Elementary were designed by architect M. Leo Elliott, a New York-trained practitioner with offices in Sarasota, Tampa, Orlando and St. Petersburg. Both schools reflected the Mediterranean Revival Style and each cost $77.000 to build. Their locations, with Bay Haven north of the city center and Southside to its south, followed the advice of nationally renowned land planner John Nolen of Cambridge, Massachusetts, who recommended two schools in outlying residential areas. Designed for 600 students, Bay Haven School opened in 1926, with Mrs. Mason H. Rose as its first principal. Support from the Bay Haven Parents-Teacher Association fostered pride in the school. At its first meeting on November 4, 1927, Mrs. Benjamin F. McCall was elected president, dues of 50 cents were set, and the first student program was presented. During the Great Depression, Sarasota public schools closed for lack of funds on February 24, 1933. The Bay Haven PTA raised money to operate the school on a tuition basis, sponsored a dinner to help impoverished families pay tuition, and had parents work in the kitchen and provide vegetables, canned fruits and milk for free lunches for needy students. In 1934, the state PTA convention honored the Bay Haven PTA for its welfare work and membership efforts. In 1957, Bay Haven established the county's first staffed in-house elementary school library. In 1962, it became the first integrated county elementary school and enrolled 29 black students. Bay Haven School became the site of the first kindergarten in a Sarasota County public school in 1964. In 1983, the Bay Haven School of Basics Plus began a written contract among student, family and school to enforce academic and behavioral standards, requiring parents to attend PTA meetings and volunteer time annually. In 1990, the school received the National Elementary School Recognition Program Award. The school was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.