I recently had occasion to watch Stanley Kramer’s 1960 classic film Inherit the Wind, about the 1925 Scopes “Monkey Trial.” Frederic March plays William Jennings Bryan, defending the Tennessee law prohibiting the teaching of evolution in public schools. Spencer Tracey plays Clarence Darrow, defending the high school teacher John T. Scopes, who is charged with violating the law. Bryan, known as the “Great Commoner,” was a three-time presidential candidate on the Democratic ticket and served for two years as Woodrow Wilson’s Secretary of State. Darrow was perhaps the most famous trial lawyer of the time.

This summer marks the 97th anniversary of that historic trial, one that has surprising St.… Read More

This year, St. Petersburg welcomes new Mayor Ken Welch, but he’s not the first member of the Welch family to play a starring role in this city’s government. David T. Welch was Mayor Welch’s father and a three-time city council member. Welch was first elected to the city council in 1981, making him the second African American council member in the city’s history. (The first was C. Bette Wimbish in 1969.) As an accountant, he owned Welch Tax Services and Accounting on 16th Street South and served as assistant director of fiscal affairs at St. Petersburg Vocational Technical Institute. He sang in the choir and taught Sunday school at Prayer Tower Church of God in Christ where his brother, Clarence, was pastor.… Read More

Many birds in St. Petersburg were on the verge of extinction in the late 1800s. This was because their feathers had become unbelievably valuable. For example, the snowy egret’s fluffy mating feathers fetched thirty-two dollars an ounce – the same as the price of gold. Feathers had become quite fashionable, especially when displayed on women’s hats. The throat pouches of pelicans were made into tobacco pouches. There was even a market for wild bird eggs. The killing of birds for their feathers had become an industry for many hunters. And one of the most notorious of these was Jean Chevelier.

Take a stroll around the Mirror Lake neighborhood and soak in the beauty and history of the area, as well as the unique architecture of the buildings. The neighborhood is rich in 1920s-era architecture and a feast for the eyes. Styles include Beaux Arts, Masonry Vernacular, Mediterranean Revival, Modern, and Moorish. More recent buildings include the modernist Judicial Building, the Sebring State Offices, and Wannemacher-Jensen Architects.

Mirror Lake itself is the only lake downtown and believed to be part of a string of ancient lakes that also includes Crescent Lake. The lakes offered Native Americans a source of fresh water long before Europeans arrived.… Read More

StPete2050 is a city-government-initiated visioning process to explore and create a picture of what St. Pete should look like 30 years from now. It’s an update of the 2020 visioning process that took place 20 years ago. StPete2050 will result in significant revisions to the city’s Comprehensive Plan and Land Development Regulations (LDRs). They are two of the city’s most important ordinances.

The Comprehensive Plan establishes policies related to growth management and preservation of the city’s character. Specific sections of the plan address future land use, conservation, coastal management, transportation, housing, recreation and open-space, infrastructure, historic preservation, and public school facilities.… Read More

As the 2020 holiday season approaches, we turn back the clock to pay a visit to the Christmas season of 100 years ago. In 1920, the nation and St. Petersburg were still coping with the post-World War I depression, although St. Pete was seeing good signs of recovery. World War I had come to an end in late 1918 as had the devastating Spanish Flu. In November 1920, Republican Warren G. Harding had been elected president. However, as of Christmas, Democrat Woodrow Wilson was still serving. His term would not end until March 1921. 1920 was a “Dry” year, at least officially.… Read More

In 1956, Mickey Mantle reported to spring training just after having his tonsils removed. In late February he played in the Tampa Palma Ceia Golf Club annual baseball-players-and-sports-writers golf tournament. Mickey was a late comer to the game of golf, and the Yanks were only allowed to play golf during spring training. Mantle was paired with pitcher Whitey Ford.

Perhaps Mickey’s most notable exhibition game that season occurred in mid-March against the Cardinals at Al Lang Stadium. Times sports writer Red Marston reported “The village blacksmith from Commerce, Okla., Mickey Mantle, muscled a hanging curve over the left field fence and on into Tampa Bay to give the New York Yankees three runs in the eighth inning.”… Read More

Among the many Major League baseball greats to walk the streets of St. Petersburg was Mickey Mantle. Mantle was three times Most Valuable Player, Triple Crown winner in 1956, and still holds the record for World Series home runs at 18. He was a switch hitter, one of only 8 among position players on MLB rosters in 1951. Many regard him the greatest switch hitter ever. His collar size was 18, and one of his nicknames was ‘Muscles.’ But he did no weight training, nor did he use a protein diet, or work with a personal trainer in the off seasons.… Read More

The Gandy Bridge is functional. The Skyway Bridge is majestic. The Salt Creek ‘Thrill Hill’ bridge is quaint. But the Snell Isle Bridge is splendid.

Old Northeast and what was to become Snell Isle were originally connected by a rickety one-lane wooden bridge as early as 1917. Early master developer C. Perry Snell opened his upscale Snell Isle development in 1925. In 1928, Snell donated three lots just north of the bridge to the women’s organizations of St. Petersburg for the purpose of their building a club house which would serve all of the 15 women’s organizations then in the city.… Read More

Tom C. Harris joined the St. Petersburg Times (now the Tampa Bay Times) as a copyboy in 1923 at the age of 14. His mother had taken him to the paper asking the manager if they had a job for “my son.” At the time, Tom was still in high school and wearing short pants, or what was known at the time as knickers. The manager introduced Tom to the staff as the new copyboy and then deadpanned, “He says he wants to be editor of the Times.”

Tom Harris’ big break at the Times came two years later. He was the only one available to cover a gruesome murder in which an 18-year-old killed both his parents.… Read More