In the 1890s, William C. Bratton built the first commercial building at Hunter's Point, the original name of the area eventually called Cortez. The building served as a post office, general store, and steamboat wharf, connecting the village's fishing families with the outside world. In 1900, rooms were added to create an inn known as the Albion Inn. Expanded over time, the Albion Inn and the 1912 Cortez Schoolhouse sheltered displaced residents of the small village during the destructive 1921 hurricane. In 1974, the inn closed and the property was sold to the US Coast Guard, but community efforts led by the Cortez Village Historical Society and the Organized Fisherman of Florida saved the store from demolition in 1991, and it was moved to this site in 2006. The Cortez Rural Graded Schoolhouse was built in 1912 as one of six schools constructed by Manatee County that year, replacing an older one-room structure that still stands in the village. Originally containing three classrooms, it was altered in 1933 under a Federal Works Progress Administration program when the middle classroom was extended into an auditorium with a stage, creating a T-shaped floor plan. It remained in use as a school until 1961, then was leased to an art school, and was ultimately sold to master weaver Robert Sailors, who made it his home and studio. In 1999, Manatee County purchased and carefully restored the building, and in 2006 it reopened as a museum and community center. The Cortez Schoolhouse is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Cortez Historic District.