st. pete rock city?
According to the city of St. Petersburg,
In 1875, General John Williams came down from Detroit and bought 2,500 acres of land on Tampa Bay. He envisioned a grand city with graceful parks and broad streets…
Thirteen years later, Peter Demens, a noble Russian aristocrat, brought the Orange Belt Railway to [the Pinellas peninsula]. On June 8, 1888, the first train arrived, carrying empty freight cars and one passenger, a shoe salesman from Savannah…
Historians say these two gentlemen are the co-founders of the now fourth largest city in Florida. But they didn’t agree on a name. Both of them wanted to honor their past by calling this new place by the same name as their respective hometowns. But how would they choose?
Legend has it that these two guys flipped a coin for the naming rights to the city. The loser was to name the city’s first hotel.
Because of the flip of a coin a hundred years ago, you might look forward to the Detroit Grand Prix, hang out at the Detroit Pier, and get yer lottery tickets from St. Petersburg Liquors, on the ground floor of the old Hotel St. Pete.
Which leads to another question. If the coin had landed the other way, would residents riot at championship games?
Oh, and by the way, the original St. Petersburg now wants to be known as the Russian Detroit.
Tags: history, names, pinellas
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