Ask Margaret
Since the mid-1800s, a variety of
extended docks or piers have been
built along St. Petersburg’s Tampa Bay
shoreline in the vicinity of the new pier
that is currently under construction. These
platforms, walkways and promenades
facilitated water transportation of goods
to and from the town, while also helping
to connect it with the outside world. The
piers, which became larger and more
expensive through the years, also became
popular gathering spots for fishing and
socializing.
The Florida Swamp Land Act of 1850,
which made close to 15 million acres
of the state’s land available to both
potential settlers and railroad companies,
encouraged new growth and expansion
such as St. Petersburg’s piers.
The findings of Navy Lt. C.H.
Berryman, who studied and recorded the
Tampa Bay water depths and surveyed
its adjacent land in the downtown
St. Petersburg area during the mid-1850s,
were instrumental in bringing the early
piers to the area. He was encouraged
by the deep water he discovered and
by Florida Sen. David Levy Yulee’s
announcement of plans to extend rail
travel from Fernandina on Florida’s
upper east coast, across the state and
south to Tampa Bay.
In 1854, Berryman and carpenter
William Paul constructed the area’s
first pier of record, along with a few
wooden structures at the eastern end of
by Margaret Word Burnside
Now that the
St. Petersburg Pier is
being re-done, what can
you tell a newbie to the
area about its history?
S.P., St. Petersburg
what is now Fifth Avenue North in St.
Petersburg. Although short, their pier’s
5-foot-deep water allowed boats from
Cuba and nearby ports to dock there in
order to exchange fruit and other goods.
Although Berryman lobbied heavily for
his pier to become a railroad terminal,
140 TAMPA BAY MAGAZINE | JULY/AUGUST 2019
Sen. Yulee’s railroad tracks, completed
in 1861 for his Florida Railroad, were
only laid across the state to Cedar
Key, far north of Tampa Bay. Even so,
interest in St. Petersburg’s accessibility
to deep water and also its desire for rail
connection remained.
In 1889, after the Civil War had
interrupted progress and life in general,
Peter Demens, for whom St. Petersburg’s
Demens Landing waterfront park is
named, brought his Orange Belt Railroad
to town. He extended his tracks through
its center and onto a trestle-like pier that
stretched 2,000 feet over Tampa Bay.
His newly completed, centrally located
Railroad Pier at First Avenue South was
long enough to reach a depth of 12 feet
to accommodate the dockage of large
steamboats and cargo ships, which
transported goods and people to and
from the area.
Demens, who leased a portion of his
pier to a commercial fishing group, saw
the remainder of the pier as a potential
tourist attraction. In 1891, he arranged
for the construction of a bathing pavilion
to provide a social gathering place for
both tourists and locals, who sunbathed,
fished and even rode a steep slide
into the bay. In 1896, Demens sold his
railroad business to Henry B. Plant, who
later tried to control the waterways and
competition by keeping Tampa Bay’s
channels into St. Petersburg from being
dredged.
If you have any questions about the
people, places or things in the Tampa
Bay area, please send them to
“Ask Margaret” at Tampa Bay Magazine,
2531 Landmark Drive, Suite 101,
Clearwater, Florida 33761.
We regret that not all questions
can be answered.