In the early 1900s, St. Petersburg, located on Florida’s sunny Gulf Coast, was a place where dreams came true, where fortunes were won, and where thousands came to bask in the city’s golden glow. “The Sunshine City” became its nickname and the advertising mantra that helped catapult St. Petersburg from a sleepy backwater of Tampa and a struggling rail stop to one of the nation’s most popular tourist destinations. By the 1920s—often referred to as Florida’s boom era—St. Petersburg saw fast and furious growth as the city’s most significant institutions, buildings, and attractions came into being. Developers and promoters lured countless settlers and tourists from across the country by touting the city’s many virtues and its perpetual sunshine. Almost overnight, St. Petersburg was transformed into a popular tourist mecca with a bustling downtown and waterfront, picturesque residential neighborhoods, lush parks and gardens, and the all the attractions of the day. This fascinating time was documented in both word and image by visitors, new residents, and the energetic players that made St. Petersburg boom.

In the early 1900s, St. Petersburg, located on Florida's sunny Gulf Coast, was a place where dreams came true, where fortunes were won, and where thousands came to bask in the city's golden glow. "The Sunshine City" became its nickname and the advertising mantra that helped catapult St. Petersburg from a sleepy backwater of Tampa and a struggling rail stop to one of the nation's most popular tourist destinations. By the 1920s--often referred to as Florida's boom era--St. Petersburg saw fast and furious growth as the city's most significant institutions, buildings, and attractions came into being. Developers and promoters lured countless settlers and tourists from across the country by touting the city's many virtues and its perpetual sunshine. Almost overnight, St. Petersburg was transformed into a popular tourist mecca with a bustling downtown and waterfront, picturesque residential neighborhoods, lush parks and gardens, and the all the attractions of the day. This fascinating time was documented in both word and image by visitors, new residents, and the energetic players that made St. Petersburg boom.

Known as the "Sunshine City," St. Petersburg gained notoriety as a popular destination for seasonal residents during the Florida real estate boom of the 1920s. However, the history of footprints along with shoreline spans thousands of years. Long before the first contact with Spanish conquistadors during the sixteenth century, indigenous cultures flourished along the abundant estuaries and left shell mounds and pottery as evidence of their settlements. After these original inhabitants disappeared, occasional fishing parties from Cuba and the Caribbean visited a largely uninhabited peninsula along Florida's west coast. Indeed, fewer than 500 people resided along the entire Pinellas peninsula on the eve of the Civil War. Throughout the twentieth century, waves of settlers, tourists, and residents encountered a colorful array of speculators and developers. Sometimes known as a winter wonderland for "snowbird" retirees, St. Petersburg tried to reinvent itself after pundits referred to the city as "God's waiting room" by the early 1960s. Fifty years later, much has changed. This book offers a visual portrait of St. Petersburg since the early 1900s. Historical and contemporary photographs in four chapters illustrate St. Petersburg's waterfront heritage, the transformation of its downtown, the establishment of neighborhoods near downtown, and the city's expansion in more recent years. Rather than offering an academic narrative, St. Petersburg Through Time introduces the reader to important moments in the city's vibrant history and encourages further exploration.

These information-packed guides offer savvy advice and the in-depth information that sophisticated travelers demand. Each guide features: Detailed background and site descriptions; mapped walking and driving tours; full-service sidebars with fascinating vignettes on history, culture, and contemporary life; a 60-page directory of visitor information, including notable hotels and restaurants, entertainment, and shopping; and foldout end flaps, printed with maps and quick reference information, that serve as handy bookmarks.

Moon Travel Guides: Experience the Life of the City! A buzzing city center, quaint historic harbor, and more than 35 miles of Gulf Coast beaches: get to know this unique part of the Sunshine State. Inside you'll find: Strategic itineraries for every timeline and budget, curated for families, beach-goers, foodies, outdoor adventurers, and more Activities and ideas for every traveler: See surrealist artwork at the Salvador Dali Museum, or soar over the bay at the world's largest skydiving center. Discover the vibrant nightlife of Tampa's historic Latin Quarter, or indulge in a puff of the region's famed cigars. Get your kicks on one of the many thrill rides at Busch Gardens, or kick back with a daiquiri after a relaxing day on the beach Honest advice on when to go, where to stay, and how to get around Firsthand perspective from born-and-raised Floridian Joshua Kinser Focused coverage of Downtown Tampa, Ybor City, South Tampa and Hyde Park, Busch Gardens and North Tampa, Greater Tampa, Downtown St. Petersburg, St. Pete Beach and Gulf Port, Clearwater and Dunedin, and Greater Pinellas County Day trips to Orlando's theme parks, the Nature Coast, and Sarasota Full-color, vibrant photos and detailed maps throughout Detailed and thorough information, including crucial background on culture and history, wildlife, and geography With Moon Tampa & St. Petersburg's practical tips, myriad activities, and local insight on the best things to do and see, you can plan your trip your way. Visiting more of the Sunshine State? Try Moon Florida. Exploring by car? Try Moon Florida Road Trip.

Commerce, tourism, recreation, and even the quest for eternal youth were the primary incentives for building piers along St. Petersburg's downtown waterfront as early as 1854. For more than 160 years, developers and entrepreneurs pushed wooden or concrete structures from the shoreline to the deeper waters of Tampa Bay. Railroads were behind the early development, allowing cargo loads to be transferred from ship to rail with the least amount of effort. A large and profitable fishing industry evolved. Electrically powered trolley cars shuttled tourists to and from cruise ships. Promoters built bathhouses, spas, and bait houses to entice locals and visitors, and casino gathering halls of various, often controversial, styles were proposed, built, destroyed, loved, and detested. Competing piers were built only 10 feet apart. Mother Nature's elements, including a hurricane, and politics ravaged most of the remaining structures.

The books in the Florida and the Caribbean Open Books Series demonstrate the University Press of Florida’s long history of publishing Latin American and Caribbean studies titles that connect in and through Florida, highlighting the connections between the Sunshine State and its neighboring islands. Books in this series show how early explorers found and settled Florida and the Caribbean. They tell the tales of early pioneers, both foreign and domestic. They examine topics critical to the area such as travel, migration, economic opportunity, and tourism. They look at the growth of Florida and the Caribbean and the attendant pressures on the environment, culture, urban development, and the movement of peoples, both forced and voluntary. The Florida and the Caribbean Open Books Series gathers the rich data available in these architectural, archaeological, cultural, and historical works, as well as the travelogues and naturalists’ sketches of the area in prior to the twentieth century, making it accessible for scholars and the general public alike. The Florida and the Caribbean Open Books Series is made possible through a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, under the Humanities Open Books program.