History of Clearwater
The beginnings
The story of Clearwater begins with the colonization of the area by the Timucua - Calusa - and Apalachee -Indianer. They probably inhabited the area for many centuries. It was an area with rich fishing grounds and plenty of game inland.
On Good Friday , April 15, 1528, the Spanish conquistador Pánfilo de Narváez landed with an army of 400 men near Cacique Ucita , a village of the Timucuan Indians, at the head of Clearwater Bay . From there he moved north and into the swamps. Narváez's expedition failed, and few returned.
In 1539, Hernando de Soto organized another expedition to Florida. At the first opportunity he was joined by Juan Ortiz , a survivor of the Narváez expedition. He and three other men had been caught near Tampa Bay. His knowledge of the country and the Timucuan language was an asset. ( A memorial to de Soto was erected about 5 miles west of Bradenton to commemorate his landing on May 25, 1539 and the start of his landing and migration). De Soto's expedition, with nearly 1,000 men, took him north and west. De Soto died of fever and exhaustion near the Mississippi River . Only 311 men made it to Mexico. They got there in 1543.
Another conqueror, the Spanish captain Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, landed on the rocks of Plymouth in 1565 . He left some soldiers and 10 Jesuit missionaries to build a fort and a mission. This later became St. Augustine . He himself marched across Florida with the rest of his men to find a waterway to the Atlantic Ocean . The soldiers and missionaries who stayed behind were left to their own devices and there was an escalation with the Indians. Chief Tocobaga and his tribe, the Timucuan Indians, refused to provide the Spaniards with food. Nine months later, a subsequent supply squad found the burned fort and the killed soldiers. The Spaniards then destroyed Chief Tocobaga's village and burned it down.
Thereafter, peace reigned in the area for the next 250 years before the white conquerors returned to incorporate Florida into US territory and replace Spanish and British colonial rule. Before that time, however, the Seminole tribe had already settled here. These had migrated south from South Carolina and Georgia . The first immigrants were fishermen and farmers who tried to plant citrus trees but were driven away by the Seminoles. The first white colonist to defy the Indians was a friend of Napoléon Bonaparte , Odet Philippe . A surgeon and previously in the Emperor's Navy. Pirates had used Tampa Bay to lure ships to the beach with false signals. Odet Philippe also came to this country in 1830. Around 1835 he built his own plantation. He called it "Saint Helena Plantation" and lived there until his death in 1869. Odet Philippe is said to have been the first farmer to plant citrus trees "in a row". He was also probably the one who introduced grapefruit to the United States.
During the seven-year war against the Seminoles, which lasted until 1842, they were dispersed and pushed further and further into the swamps. Some of them also migrated further west. To prevent another war and still be able to take possession of Florida, Congress passed a new law: the government donated 160 acres to every man over 18 years old who owned a gun and farmed at least 5 acres for five years. 52 ranches, farms and plantations were built on the Pinellas Peninsula over the next 18 years. Before then, Clearwater was a hospital and rehabilitation center for soldiers from the surrounding forts who were wounded in the Seminole War.
Captain James Parramore McMullen (1823–1895), the oldest of seven brothers, settled here in 1850. He built his log cabin in the east of the small community, which can still be admired today in the Heritage Park in Largo . His brothers settled in different parts of Pinellas County . For the following years they had a major influence on politics, law, agriculture and technology. (Of those living in the county today, many can still trace their roots back to the McMullen brothers). Clearwater's proximity to the coast and the natural harbor for boats helped the city over the poor roads for horse-drawn carts and stagecoaches. More goods could be transported more quickly by sea or along the coast than by land. According to the pioneer legends, the men could simply pick up the fish on the beach at low tide, and the hunt in the pine and oak forests in the area has always been a success. The soil, which is excellent for agriculture, did the rest.
While some farmers grew grain, cotton and sweet potatoes, others raised pigs, poultry, goats and sheep. Most of the farms were small and independent. The plantation economy also began shortly before the civil war. Life was more leisurely and important advances were slow. It wasn't until 1849 that the road to Tampa was approved and built. In 1850 the first post office was built, on what is now Turner Street in the west of the city. In 1850 there were 35 families with a total of 178 people on the Pinellas Peninsula. In 1860 there were already 82 families with 381 people. The leisurely life in Clearwater was not disrupted until the civil war, north against south, broke out.
The civil war and the time after
In 1861 the Civil War broke out that fundamentally changed the life and future of Clearwater. Almost every young man heeded the army's call and reported for duty. The McMullens organized their own military unit, which they called the "Home Guards". They were joined by most of the men from Clearwater and the remote farms. The "Home Guards" joined other military units to fight on the battlefields north of Florida. The women and children who stayed behind had to support themselves. Food became scarce and hunger and hardship increased. The fight, which was previously planned for weeks, turned into a carnage that lasted for years. After the war began, the post office in Clearwater was closed and moved to Belleaire . Only in 1865 did the city get its own post office again.
A new beginning
After the Civil War, Clearwater entered a period of growth. The 1870 census showed 164 families on the peninsula and a total population of 781 people. The most strongly represented families were still the "Whitehursts" with 42 family members and the "McMullens" with 37 family members. In 1873, New Yorker CS Reynolds came to Clearwater and published the first newspaper, the Clearwater Times . Reynolds was an "old hand" in the newspaper business. He started at the Tampa Herold in 1854 and worked with several other Florida newspapers. It was a peaceful time of slow growth. The first orange trees and cotton were planted again. In the previous five years, there had only been one court case where a jury had to meet.
The first tourism
When MC Dwight came to Florida in 1880 and built the first hotel in Clearwater, the "Orange View", one could not imagine anything under tourism in today's sense. It was built right next to the Presbyterian Peace Memorial Church. It was with this building that the first visitors, the first tourism, began to come to Clearwater. In 1885 a Baltimore doctor , Dr. Van Bibber, in a medical journal, about Clearwater being the healthiest place on earth. Because of this unexpected help, a second hotel had to be built. Russia's famous sculptor Theodore Kamensky built the Sea View Hotel on what is now Clearwater's city center. The city experienced the next growth spurt with the construction of the railway. It is thanks to the Russian immigrant Peter A. Demens that the railway was to be relocated through the entire peninsula to Saint Petersburg . Due to lack of money, an emergency solution was sought and the tracks ended in Clearwater for the time being. They were only relocated to Saint Petersburg when General John C. Williams exchanged part of his land to have the rails laid. The first train on the Orange Belt Railroad arrived on June 14, 1888. Thus the peninsula and Clearwater had a good connection by land to the outside world.
With the arrival of tourism, the first hotels and the railway, the quiet and sleepiness of the place was over.
A city develops
In the years 1890 and 1891, Clearwater got more and more organized city trains. So it was accepted as a parish in the same year and the school teacher James E. Crane became the first mayor. Clearwater's first civic employee was Thomas J. Sheridan. In 1895, Clearwater boasted two cobbled streets: Cleveland Street from the harbor to the Orange Belt Railroad station and Fort Harrison Avenue from the outskirts to the Methodist Church . The city continued to expand and smaller surrounding towns were integrated. The economic boom ended in the winter of 1894/95 when a hitherto unknown cold snap and subsequent storms destroyed all orange trees and cotton plantations as well as the forests in the area. Many farmers lost their entire property. About 50 km away, in Tampa , the cold snap and the storms had hardly been felt. The following year the Tampa Morning Tribune wrote , ignorant of the local situation: "... the cold spell on the west coast only damaged a few old trees in isolated cases."
In 1900, JN McClung built the first Clearwater ice cream factory that offered frozen water to cool food. He also built the first household water supply from his ice cream factory to the corner of Cleveland Street and Fort Harrison Avenue . The system was further expanded and bought by the city in 1910.
To attract even more people to Clearwater Bay, a pavilion and recreational pier, which also served as a dock for smaller boats, were built in 1902. 1900 is also the year of the first telecommunications in Clearwater. John R. Davey had the first phone line laid between his orange plantation near Safety Harbor and Coachman's store in the center of town. A telephone exchange was set up in 1903 so that other residents could also telephone. The first operator was set up in LN Fowler's house, with Ms. Fowler as the first operator.
The same man who brought ice and water to the city, JN McClung, supplied the city with it in 1905 when he was licensed to operate electric lighting, laying the foundation for his Feldgling Electric Company . In 1895 the local Orange Belt Railroad was taken over by the larger Plant System , owned by Henry Bradley Plant . He had built his line from central Florida to Tampa, as well as the Tampa Bay Hotel , which opened its doors in 1891. Plant was a pioneer of the railroad and had contributed greatly to the development of central and west Florida. Plant also built the fabulous Belleview Biltmore Hotel . His agents explored the entire west coast of Florida in search of the ideal location for his luxury property. Eventually they found that upper Pinellas County had a few days more sun than the rest of the coast. On January 15, 1897, the doors of the Belleview Biltmore opened to the affluent vacationer from around the world. The hotel became a mecca for railway giants, steel tycoons, industrial barons and celebrities and is still in use today as the largest wooden structure in the world.
A circular asphalt bicycle path was built around the hotel early on, on which international championships were held. In 1926, with the addition of a south and east wing, the roof had the dimensions of 2.5 acres and the corridors a total length of 3 km. There were 285 rooms and 17 suites.
In the early morning of June 24, 1910, another disaster struck. The residents were awakened by a fire that broke out north of Cleveland Street , between Fort Harrison Avenue and Osceola Avenue . The Great Fire of 1910 , as it was later called, destroyed all wooden structures of an entire street, despite the courageous efforts of the citizens and their water-bucket brigade. The fire led to the formation of the first fire brigade in 1911, of which Ora S. Hart was appointed. However, the necessary equipment was not acquired until 1914.
Clearwater becomes a county seat
Until 1911, the Pinellas Peninsula was part of Hillsborough County . As early as 1886, the population had been pushing for a county of their own because they believed taxation to be unjust. On May 23, 1911 the time had come. The Pinellas County was founded. The county officials started the new county government on January 1, 1912 in rented premises in Clearwater. In a vote, Clearwater before Saint Petersburg, with 3 to 2 votes, was chosen as the new county seat. Within 30 days, the new courthouse was built for $ 3,750 . That same year, Clearwater's population rose to 1,500. In the same year the first 24-hour restaurant was opened and the South Ward School was founded. It is now America's oldest public school, continuously housed in the same building. In 1915 the first Clearwater hospital was built, with 21 beds. This small hospital has been expanded and rebuilt several times. Today it is one of the largest centers on the sun coast .
As the city grew, the Carnegie Foundation offered $ 10,000 to build a public library. The land that was selected for this purpose is the site of today's main library. In 1916, a two-mile long wooden bridge was built between Seminole Street on the west end of the city and Clearwater Island , now Clearwater Beach. In the next year, when the US Germany declared war on the citizens of Clearwater formed their own fighting unit, the Company D . They went to war with the words of President Woodrow Wilson : "... make the world safe for democracy".
After the First World War , the real estate boom returned to the Clearwater and Tampa Bay area. The hotels were full of speculators and some made fortunes in a night. The boom also brought important developments to Clearwater. So all streets were paved, sidewalks were laid and the old wooden bridge to Clearwater Beach had to give way to the Memorial Gardens Causeway . The future looked bright - until the next disaster.
The next disaster came in 1921 in the form of a hurricane that broke out in the western Caribbean. He came at about 160 km / h and waves 3 meters high. The plantations in the area that were not inland were destroyed, as were many wooden houses, bridges, telegraph poles, etc.
Rebuilding
In retrospect, the catastrophe of 1921 also had its good sides. The cityscape changed. Damaged buildings (mostly made of wood) were demolished and replaced by new stone buildings. In 1923, $ 2.8 million was spent on bridges and roads. From 1924 to 1926 12 new bridges were built in the city area and the real estate boom came back stronger in 1926. New hotels and the first skyscrapers were built. Winter tourism broke its course and all rooms were booked for a long time. In 1927 Clearwater gained national attention with the construction of the Million Dollar Dam . It was supposed to replace the old bridge from Cleveland Street to Clearwater Beach, which had meanwhile been damaged by salt water and sun. The Sunset Hills Country Club near Tarpon Springs was one of the most famous golf courses in western Florida at the time. In 1927 the boom ended and the Depression was in sight.
depression
On October 29, 1929, the stock market collapsed and the building boom in Clearwater, as in all other Florida cities, ended overnight. The construction industry collapsed and workers and craftsmen left the area in search of work. National losses in the first month were approximately $ 16 billion. Those times were difficult for Clearwater too.
The first projects, such as the construction of a new hospital and the construction of an administrative center for veterans, were financed from federal funds. Another plan was to further expand the Davis Dam in order to be able to offer more beach space for future visitors, and to make driving on the dam and visiting the beach a fee.
In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Secretary of the Post, James A. Farley , traveled personally to Clearwater to attend the gala opening of the new Post Office. Despite the difficult times, the city's population grew steadily. The guests, the Snowbirds , as they were called, soon returned. They liked the sunny, warm climate and the large beaches. In 1934, the Carlouel Yacht Club opened on the north end of Clearwater Beach.
Clearwater retained its charm over the relatively lean years. Clearwater Beach was still staging its beauty pageants , continued to operate the old Palm Pavilion, and hosted the annual regatta .
Second World War
Due to the threatened outbreak of war, many Americans changed their vacation plans. Instead of going to Europe, they preferred to spend their vacation in Florida. From 1941 petrol was rationed and some other materials became scarce. When the United States entered World War II , 1,300 young men between the ages of 21 and 35 volunteered for service in the army . After the attack on Pearl Harbor , Clearwater was also at war . Water and electricity works were guarded, foreigners, especially Germans and Japanese, had to report to the police every day, and the population was asked to report suspicious persons immediately. Outbound letters were subjected to censorship. Citizens were told to avoid public places in the evening and the city was darkened every day.
In early 1942, the Army took over the Belleview Biltmore Hotel . All the luxurious furniture was removed and the hotel was painted olive green / brown. Up to 3,000 soldiers were quartered there. Every other hotel in the city and the surrounding area was also used as a troop quarters.
literature
- Clearwater: A Pictorial History, Michael L. Sanders
- Yesterdays Clearwater, Hampton Dunn
- A History of Pinellas County, WL Straub
- Clearwater: A Sparkling City, Roy Cadwell
Coordinates: 27 ° 58 ′ N , 82 ° 49 ′ W