The origin of the name Cortez cannot be proved, but it is thought to have begun with inhabitants of a Spanish fishing rancho in this vicinity. Local residents knew the area as Hunter's Point until the 1880's, a name supported by notations on the U.S. Coast Survey of the Manatee River and vicinity in 1874. Manatee County deed records show that Allen Gardner purchased 110 acres here from Florida Land and Improvement, part of the Disston Purchase, for $139.03 on April 17, 1883. In 1887, the 20 acre parcel surrounding and north of this site was subdivided, and in Sept. 1888 a post office named Cortez was established with Charles D. Jones as postmaster, receiving mail three times a week by boat from Braidentown. During the latter years of the 19th century, commercial fishermen of English descent, most often from the coastal counties of North Carolina, primarily Carteret and Onslow, settled here. Residents called the eastern shore of Sarasota Bay south of the village the Kitchen because its abundance of fish, scallops, and other seafood helped feed families in hard times. Net fishing for huge schools of black mullet formed the core of the Cortez fishing industry, and thousands of pounds were caught, processed, and shipped annually by boat to Cedar Key and later to Tampa after the railroad arrived there. By 1897, Cortez was a thriving fishing community with stores, a school, and other refinements. Although high waters and winds from the 1921 hurricane virtually destroyed the fish houses and other shoreline structures, residents rebuilt and continued commercial fishing, and many descendants of the earliest families still live in the immediate area or in Manatee County, with some still engaged in fishing and related occupations.