 The area was named for J. Elwood Moore, a Sarasota banker and developer of the area who established the New Home Development Company in the mid-1910s.The New Home Development Company advertised the agricultural tracts in the Midwest to Northerners willing to cultivate the land and Moore provided the training and supplies needed.By 1918, several farms had been established at the site and a shell road was laid to connect Elwood Park to the nearest town of Manatee.