The evolution of the Pier

Piers and St. Petersburg are virtually synonymous. The city was founded by John and Sarah Williams and Peter Demens in 1888. The Williams owned the land and had visions of a great city. Back then to be a great city a railroad was required. Peter Demens, owner of the Orange Belt Railway agreed to route his railroad to the new city in exchange for a prime share of the anticipated downtown real estate. Part of the deal was that he would extend his railroad tracks out over a pier reaching water 12 feet deep to accomplish cargo exchange between ships and the train. Demens probably did not know how shallow Tampa Bay was, as it took 3,000 feet of pier to reach that depth. Over time the piers became tourist attractions and amenities for residents. Shipping activities were relocated to Bayboro Harbor, adjacent to the current site of the University of South Florida St. Petersburg Campus. The Railroad Pier was located just south of today’s St. Pete Pier, now known as Demens Landing.

The Railroad Pier and the Orange Belt Railway were eventually acquired by railroad entrepreneur Henry B. Plant. Plant also had his own shipping interests, and those that were not a part of his system paid a fee to use the pier. Some thought this wrong. One such person was boatbuilder D.F.S. Brantley. In 1896 Brantley built another pier named after himself to compete. The Brantley Pier was 1,500 feet long. A horse-drawn flat car was used to shuttle goods and passengers from water’s edge to and from moored ships at the pier’s head. It also boasted a 34-room bathing pavilion which proved most popular. The Brantley Pier began the tradition of the downtown 2nd Avenue Northeast piers.

In 1906 The Brantley Pier was replaced by the Electric Pier. This pier was developed by Frank Davis who owned the St. Petersburg Electric Light & Power Company and the St. Petersburg & Gulf Electric Railway, a streetcar utility. Davis used his ready access to electric power to line the pier with hundreds of electric lights. He also extended his streetcar operation all the way down the pier bridge.

The Electric Pier was succeeded in 1913 by the Municipal Recreation Pier. This was the first pier to accommodate automobiles. Various amenities were located along the pier approach including an indoor swimming pool called the Spa and the adjacent Spa Beach, aquarium, history museum, dance hall and banquet facility. Of particular note, a hangar

By Will Michaels

was built in 1914 for the world’s first airline. The location of a hangar on the pier approach at first may seem curious. However, the airline used airboats or what are now called seaplanes. On New Year’s Day, 1914, pioneer pilot Tony Jannus flew the first flight of the world’s first airline from the Central Yacht Basin by the pier across the bay to Tampa and back. Later, additional hangars were constructed for other seaplanes. The current Pier includes a full-size sculpture of the first airliner, the Benoist Airboat. The most destructive hurricane to hit the area since 1848 damaged the wooden Municipal Pier in 1921. While it was repaired it was eventually replaced by the Million Dollar Pier.

During the era of segregation African Americans were not welcome at the piers. For example, they were restricted from Spa Beach, and a modest, ill-kept beach was designated for their use at Demens Landing.

Opened in 1926, the Million Dollar Pier, with its casino building at the east end, was also a major tourist attraction for the city and a popular gathering space for residents. The Pier extended 1,452 feet including the pier head and accommodated a 100-foot-wide two-lane bridge and a streetcar line which delivered passengers right into the casino. The casino included an observation deck, bait houses, and the WSUN radio station. The Pier was called the Million Dollar Pier because that was almost exactly what it cost to build--$998,729.18 to be exact.

Despite the name Casino for the huge building at the pier head, no gambling was allowed. Designed in the most popular architectural style in St. Petersburg in the 1920s, the Pier incorporated Spanish, Italian, and Moorish elements, rounding out the City’s Mediterranean Revival-style heritage. A Solarium for nude sunbathing was constructed on the pier approach in 1930, and in 1954 a Senior Citizens Center was established with the help of Evelyn Rittenhouse and Doc Webb of the celebrated World’s Most Unusual Drug Store. (Rittenhouse was also a founder of the world-famous Kids and Kubs Senior Softball League which still plays at North Shore Park.) The Million Dollar Pier was demolished in 1967 due to deterioration and a desire on the part of some city leaders to see a modern replacement.

The Inverted Pyramid, with its radical, forward-thinking structure was built on top of the 1926 pier foundation. It was designed by noted architect William Harvard, Sr. Completed and opened to the public in 1973, the iconic design continued the tradition of an over-water public gathering place and tourist attraction in downtown St. Petersburg for four decades.

The new St. Pete Pier succeeded the Inverted Pyramid Pier opening in 2020. Its history is now in your hands.

From its earliest days in the late 1800s, St. Petersburg and its piers have been intricately linked. There have been many iterations of a pier over the years including:

1889 – The Railroad Pier

1896 – The Brantley Pier

1900 – The Fountain of Youth Pier

1906 – The Electric Pier

1913 – Municipal Recreation Pier

1926 – Million Dollar Pier

1973 – Inverted Pyramid Pier

2020 – St. Pete Pier

Will Michaels is a St. Pete historian and was a member of the 2010 Pier Task Force and the subsequent Pier Alliance. He is also the Chair of the Pier and Parks Committee for the Council of Neighborhood Associations. More about Pier history may be found in his book The Making of St. Petersburg.

This article first appeared in the Northeast Journal and is reprinted with permission.