High Hopes and Flying Follies: St. Pete Looks to the Skies
First scheduled flight January 1, 1914. Tony Jannus in Benoist airboat. Photos courtesy of the St. Petersburg Museum of History
By Tina Stewart Brakebill Banking on Tourism As St. Pete moved toward the second decade of the 20th century, many influential leaders “banked on tourism” as the path to prosperity. They pushed for the preservation of “the natural and recreational amenities of the city including the waterfront park system” rather than pursuing an expanded industrial port. When the waterfront was dedicated as a park in 1920, it became clear that tourism had moved to the forefront of the city’s plans for economic prosperity. Efforts to draw people here escalated.
“First Commercial Air Ship Line in World!” Early enthusiasts promised potential visitors that even though St. Pete was a bit difficult to reach, they would be invigorated by our abundant waters and clear blue skies. Forward-thinking boosters looked to those clear horizons and envisioned new possibilities. They gathered investors and persuaded the city to build a hangar. On Dec. 17, 1913, “the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line” was launched. It was 10 years to the day after the Wright brothers first flew successfully at Kitty Hawk. Hailed as the birth of commercial aviation, this liftoff was met with high hopes. Throngs of people gathered on both sides of the bay to witness the first scheduled flight from St. Pete, which was met in Tampa with “an enthusiastic cheer.” Twice-daily flights
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began immediately. One-way tickets for the approximately 20-minute flight sold for $5. In the first weeks, many took advantage of the exciting new venture as passengers and boosters. St. Pete and Tampa newspapers bantered over passenger intentions: Were people “eager to get to Tampa” or “always in a hurry to get away”? Merchants advertised that their wares had been transported via air. The St. Petersburg Times bragged that it delivered its daily edition “as no other” to Tampa. By mid-March, thousands of pounds of cargo and 1,200 passengers had been transported without incident. Despite this auspicious liftoff, however, those original high hopes could not keep the venture aloft. As summer loomed and snowbirds departed, passenger demand sank. Slim profit margins disappeared, and by early May 1914, the nation’s first commercial airline had become history.
A Boom, A Bust, and ... Ten years after the demise of the Airboat Line, St. Pete’s economy was booming. Past failures seemed unimportant in the midst of exciting new expansion. Unfortunately, when the land speculation driving that boom collapsed in 1926, the economy again took a dive. The national economy continued to flourish, however, and tourism returned to the forefront of efforts to keep the city from falling into a deep financial pit. Boosters upped their already considerable efforts to draw people to the city; by 1927, St. Petersburg seemed to be pulling out of its economic dive.
