St. Petersburg

St. Petersburg is a city on the Pinellas Peninsula of Florida, United States, between Tampa Bay and the Gulf coast. Peter Demens, a Russian who brought the Orange Belt Railway to the town, named it after Saint Petersburg, where he had spent his youth.

John C. Williams of Detroit bought the land, and the railroad reached the waterfront in 1888, when the settlement was laid out around its terminal. Green benches along the downtown sidewalks welcomed retired winter guests in the early 20th century and became a symbol of the town. In 1914 Tony Jannus flew a flying boat across the bay to Tampa on the first scheduled commercial airline flight in the world. Baseball teams held their spring training in the city from the 1910s.

Jabil, the electronics manufacturer, is based in St. Petersburg and builds circuit boards and devices for other companies. HSN, the Home Shopping Network, began as a radio station sale of can openers in nearby Clearwater and broadcasts its shopping channel from its studios in the city.

The Salvador Dalí Museum holds the collection of Reynolds and Eleanor Morse in a concrete building with a glass bubble on its side. The St. Pete Pier stretches into the bay with a park, restaurants and a beach. Sunken Gardens, planted in a drained sinkhole in the early 20th century, keeps tropical plants and flamingos. The Museum of Fine Arts on the waterfront shows European, American and Asian art.