St. Pete Pier
| Official name | Pier Park |
|---|---|
| Type | Pleasure pier |
| Spans | Tampa Bay |
| Locale | St. Petersburg, Florida, United States |
| Construction | June 28, 2017–present |
| Owner | City of St. Petersburg |
| Coordinates | 27°46′24″N 82°37′19″W / 27.77333°N 82.62194°W |
The St. Petersburg Pier, known locally as The Pier and currently Pier Park, was a landmark and tourist destination extending into Tampa Bay from downtown St. Petersburg, Florida. The last iteration of The Pier featured a five-story inverted pyramid-shaped building. Constructed in 1973, it was designed by St. Petersburg architect William B. Harvard, Sr.. May 31, 2013 was the last official day for the public to visit the pier.
The Pier's origins date to 1889, when the Orange Belt Railway constructed the Railroad Pier on Tampa Bay as a railway-accessible sightseeing and recreational resort for locals and tourists, three years prior to St. Petersburg’s incorporation as a town in 1892. The Railroad Pier's immediate success led to its replacement in 1906 with the Electric Pier, which extended 3,000 feet into the bay.
The Electric Pier replaced the Railroad Pier in 1906. The Electric Pier served as a dock for the steamship Favorite and had electric trolley tracks put down in order to serve the terminal where the steamship could board and exit passengers. The Electric Pier was replaced shortly after around 1913 by the wooden Municipal Pier, which was built 10 feet away from the defunct Electric Pier. This new pier introduced a new beach, a solarium, and a bathhouse.
The former Municipal Pier was heavily damaged by the Tampa Bay Hurricane of 1921, but in the aftermath the city of St. Petersburg appropriated a $1 million bond for a new structure. This was dedicated on Thanksgiving Day in 1926 as the Million Dollar Pier, a Mediterranean-style casino that included an observation deck, an open-air ballroom, and a spacious interior atrium for card games and community events. The building's entrance portico was later enclosed as WSUN-TV’s studios, from which "Captain Mac" broadcast his children’s show in the 1950s.George Snow Hill painted a picture of pier goers at the Million Dollar Pier. By 1967, the Million Dollar Pier was demolished.
The site was vacant for several years until the next structure was constructed in 1970 and 1971 and opened on January 20, 1973. The inverted pyramid-shaped building was designed by William B. Harvard Sr., founder of Harvard Jolly architectural firm in St. Petersburg, with a tubular steel framework to create large windows for panoramic views of Tampa Bay and a larger top floor and observation deck.
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