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ABOUT ST. PETE
 From the sparkling blue waters of a modern downtown waterfront to sunsets on the Gulf beaches only a 10-minute ride from downtown, St. Petersburg offers residents and visitors an exciting variety of things to do and places to go. A growing economy, a new Major League Baseball team, year-round sunshine, more than 100 lush green parks, boating, fishing, and sailing venues, and modern entertainment facilities make St. Petersburg an excellent place to live, work and play.
History
Was explored by the Spanish adventurer Juan Ponce de Leon, who arrived here in 1521 while searching for a fountain of youth. He was followed by explorers Pantilo de Narvaez in 1528 and Hernando de Soto in 1539. Was explored by pioneers in the 1800s including General John Williams who bought 1700 acres here in 1875, and by Hamilton Disston who sparked St. Pete's first great real estate promotion when he bought four million acres of land from the State in 1881. Disston also built the first hotel and stores in the area. Was promoted by pioneer and railroad magnate Peter Demens who began successful efforts to bring a railroad system here in 1888. The town was called St. Petersburg and named after Demens whose birthplace was St. Petersburg, Russia. Began tourist excursions in 1890 when the population was 273. The Orange Belt Railroad brought them to the new town. One of St. Petersburg's first industries that helped its economy was shipping huge quantities of mackerel and snapper to cities along the eastern seaboard using the Orange Belt railroad. By the 1890s, nearly three million pounds of fish were shipped annually. The St. Louis Browns tried out the city for spring training and found a home in 1914. Young aviator Tony Jannus made history on January 1, 1914, when he flew the world's first scheduled passenger service airline flight from St. Petersburg's downtown yacht basin to Tampa.
St. Petersburg Sports Attractions
 St. Petersburg excels in offering a variety of outdoor sports and recreation activities to please almost every taste. In brief, you can:
Tee off at one of Pinellas County's 40 golf courses - including city-owned public golf courses: Mangrove Bay, Twin Brooks and the new Cypress Links Golf Courses in St. Petersburg. Charter a deep-sea fishing boat. Watch the Major League Baseball team - the Tampa Bay Devil Rays - at Tropicana Field. Participate in pari-mutual sports like greyhound racing at Derby Lane, and thoroughbred horse racing at Tampa Bay Downs in Oldsmar. See why St. Petersburg has been called the "fast emerging sports capital of the South" ( by Cable News Network), with X-Games trials, the annual St. Anthony's Triathlon attended by athletes from all over the world, the First America Running Festival & more.
Pro Sports:
Tampa Bay Devil Rays (MBL)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers (NFL)
Tampa Bay Lightning (NHL)
St. Petersburg Museums
 The sensuous forms of Steuben glass are just one of the exhibit attractions at the Museum of Fine Arts in downtown St. Petersburg. The museum collection also includes works by such major French artists as Cezanne, Monet, Gaugin, Renoir, and Rodin and by American artists Henri, Bellows and O'Keefe.
The Florida International Museum has become the premier museum in Florida for presenting world-class, blockbuster exhibitions with attendance since 1995 at over one and a half million visitors from all 50 states and over 100 countries. The Salvador Dali Museum features the largest collection of the artist's works. Located on St. Petersburg's beautiful downtown waterfront, the museum also features other exhibits.
The Florida Holocaust Museum offers the visitor an opportunity to understand the causes of the Holocaust and its relevance for today. Changing exhibitions from around the world, including art, photographs, and historical documentation paint a vivid picture of an historic time. Great Explorations, the Hands On Museum has been calledthe "most sophisticated, user-friendly museum of its kind in the country," (Miami Herald) thanks to its "hands-on" exhibits in the arts, science and health for all ages. Visitors can create their own works of art or learn something new in one of the museum's many workshops.
Looking up at the historic Benoist airboat that hangs in the St. Petersburg Museum of History, you get a sense of what it must have been like to cross over water from St. Petersburg to Tampa in the small, open aircraft that started commercial aviation worldwide in 1914. The airboat is on display at the museum which is on The Pier approach. The museum also includes video screens, artifacts and an 1870 country store.
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