Editing Pinellas County, Florida (section)

==History==
[[File:Safety Harbor Site top-down 01.jpg|thumb|View from the top of the [[Tocobaga]] mound at [[Philippe Park]]]]
[[File:Jungle Prada 10.jpg|thumb|Marker at the site of the 1528 Narvaez landing, Jungle Prada, St. Petersburg]]
[[File:McMullen-Coachman Log Cabin.jpg|thumb|The McMullen-Coachman Log Cabin, built in 1852, is located at Heritage Village in Largo, Florida, and is the oldest standing structure in Pinellas County<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.pinellascounty.org/Heritage/log_house.htm| title=McMullen-Coachman Log Cabin| publisher=Heritage Village| access-date=December 25, 2016}}</ref>]]
[[File:Belleview.jpg|thumb|The [[Belleview-Biltmore Hotel]] built by [[Henry Plant]]]]
[[File:FortDesotoMortars.jpg|thumb|Battery and guns at [[Fort De Soto]]]]
[[File:Firstgandy.jpg|thumb|The original span of the [[Gandy Bridge]]]]
[[File:St. Pete Vinoy pano01.jpg|thumb|The Renaissance Vinoy Hotel]]

===Pre-European settlement===
When Europeans first reached the Pinellas peninsula, the Tampa Bay area was inhabited by people of the [[Safety Harbor culture]]. The Safety Harbor culture area was divided into [[chiefdom]]s. One documented chiefdom in what is now Pinellas County was that of the [[Tocobaga]], who occupied a town and large temple mound, the [[Safety Harbor site]], overlooking the bay in what is now [[Safety Harbor, Florida|Safety Harbor]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Florida Indians and the Invasion from Europe|last=Milanich|first=Jerald T.|year=1995|isbn=0-8130-1636-3|location=Gainesville, Florida|pages=72–73}}</ref> The modern site is protected and can be visited as part of the county's [[Philippe Park]].

===Spanish and British Florida===
During the early 16th century [[Conquistador|Spanish explorers]] discovered and slowly began exploring Florida, including Tampa Bay. In 1528 [[Pánfilo de Narváez]] [[Narváez expedition#Arrival in Florida|landed in Pinellas]], and 10 years later [[Hernando de Soto]] is [[Hernando de Soto#De Soto's exploration of North America|thought]] to have explored the [[Tampa Bay area]]. By the early 18th century the Tocobaga had been virtually annihilated, having fallen victim to [[Smallpox|European diseases]] from which they had no immunity, as well as [[Queen Anne's War|European conflicts]]. Later Spanish explorers named the area ''Punta Piñal'' (Spanish for "Point of Pines" or "Piney Point"). After trading hands [[History of Florida#Colonial battleground|multiple times]] between the [[British Empire|British]] and the [[Spanish Empire|Spanish]], Spain finally [[Adams–Onís Treaty|ceded Florida]] to the United States in 1821, and in 1823 the U.S. Army established [[Fort Brooke]] (later [[Tampa, Florida|Tampa]]).

===Settlement of West Hillsborough===
In 1834 much of west central Florida, including the Pinellas peninsula (then known simply as ''West Hillsborough''), was organized as [[Hillsborough County, Florida|Hillsborough County]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hillsboroughcounty.org/en/about-hillsborough/history/hillsborough-county-history |title=Hillsborough County History |website=Hillsborough County Official Website }}</ref> The very next year [[Odet Philippe]], a French Huguenot from Charleston, South Carolina became the first permanent, non-native resident of the peninsula when he established a plantation near the site of the Tocobaga village in Safety Harbor. It was Philippe who first introduced both [[citrus]] culture and [[cigar]]-making to Florida.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=13637|title=Odet Philippe Marker|work=hmdb.org|access-date=November 6, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pinellascounty.org/park/11_philippe.htm|title=Pinellas County, Florida, Park and Conservation Resources - Philippe Park|work=pinellascounty.org|access-date=November 6, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://genforum.genealogy.com/philippe/messages/112.html|title=ODET PHILIPPE - FLORIDA PIONEE - Genealogy.com|work=genealogy.com|access-date=November 6, 2015}}</ref>

Around the same time, the United States Army began construction of [[Fort Harrison, Florida|Fort Harrison]], named after [[William Henry Harrison]], as a rest post for soldiers from nearby Fort Brooke during the [[Second Seminole War]]. The new fort was located on a bluff overlooking [[Clearwater, Florida|Clear Water Harbor]], which later became part of an early 20th-century residential development (now historic district) called [[Harbor Oaks Residential District|Harbor Oaks]]. University of South Florida archaeologists excavated the site in 1977 after Alfred C. Wyllie discovered an underground ammunition bunker while digging a swimming pool on his estate. Clearwater would later become the first organized community on the peninsula as well as the site of its first post office.

The [[Armed Occupation Act]], passed in 1842, encouraged further settlement of Pinellas, like all of Florida, by offering 160 acres (0.65&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>) to anyone who would bear arms and cultivate the land. Pioneer families like the Booths, the Coachmans, the Marstons, and the McMullens established homesteads in the area in the years following, planting more citrus groves and raising cattle. During the [[American Civil War]], many residents fought for the [[Confederate States of America]]. Brothers James and Daniel McMullen <ref>{{cite web|url=http://fl-genweb.org/decole/Polk/genealogy/7Brothers.html|title=7Brothers|work=fl-genweb.org|access-date=November 6, 2015}}</ref> were members of the Confederate [[1st Florida Special Cavalry Battalion|Cow Cavalry]], driving Florida cattle to Georgia and the Carolinas to help sustain the war effort. John W. Marston served in the 9th Florida Regiment as a part of the Appomattox Campaign. Many other residents served in other capacities. Otherwise the peninsula had virtually no significance during the war, and the war largely passed the area by.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ussforthenry.com/USSFHpdf/Pinellas_Whitehurst.PDF |title=Archived copy |access-date=January 24, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150226192309/http://www.ussforthenry.com/USSFHpdf/Pinellas_Whitehurst.PDF |archive-date=February 26, 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

On September 27, 1848, a strong hurricane struck the West Coast of Florida. It separated the barrier island on the coast and created a waterway known today as John's Pass. John Levique, along with Joseph Silva, was the one who discovered it and named it after himself and is now a federally owned canal.{{citation needed|date=September 2022}}

[[Tarpon Springs, Florida|Tarpon Springs]] became West Hillsborough's first incorporated city in 1887, and in 1888 the [[Orange Belt Railway]] was extended into the southern portion of the peninsula. Railroad owner [[Peter Demens]] named the town that grew near the railroad's terminus [[St. Petersburg, Florida|St. Petersburg]] in honor of his [[Saint Petersburg|hometown]]. The town would incorporate in 1892. Other major towns in the county incorporated during this time were Clearwater (1891), [[Dunedin, Florida|Dunedin]] (1899), and [[Largo, Florida|Largo]] (1905).

Construction of [[Fort De Soto]], on Mullet Key facing the mouth of Tampa Bay, was begun in 1898 during the [[Spanish–American War]] to protect Tampa Bay from potential invading forces. The fort, a subpost of [[Fort Dade]] on adjacent [[Egmont Key]] (which lies in the mouth of Tampa Bay), was equipped with artillery and mortar batteries.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fortdesoto.com/twelveinchmortars.php|title=Twelve-inch mortars|work=fortdesoto.com|access-date=November 6, 2015}}</ref>

===Birth of Pinellas County===
Even into the early years of the 20th century, West Hillsborough had no paved roads, and transportation posed a major challenge. A trip to the county seat, across the bay in Tampa, was generally an overnight affair and the automobiles that existed on the peninsula at that time would frequently become bogged down in the muck after rainstorms. Angry at what was perceived as neglect by the county government, residents of Pinellas began a push to secede from Hillsborough. They succeeded, and on January 1, 1912, Pinellas County came into being.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tampabay.com/features/humaninterest/pinellas-county-turns-100-years-old/1208294|title=Pinellas County turns 100 years old|work=Tampa Bay Times|access-date=November 6, 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924132337/http://www.tampabay.com/features/humaninterest/pinellas-county-turns-100-years-old/1208294|archive-date=September 24, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.pinellascounty.org/PDF/HEObook.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=January 22, 2012 |archive-date=January 23, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120123022346/http://www.pinellascounty.org/PDF/HEObook.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> The peninsula, along with a small [[Oldsmar, Florida|part of the mainland]] were incorporated into the new county.

===Land boom and prohibition===
Aviation history was made in St. Petersburg on January 1, 1914, when [[Tony Jannus]] made the world's first scheduled commercial airline flight with the [[St. Petersburg–Tampa Airboat Line]] from St. Petersburg to Tampa. The popular open-air St. Petersburg concert venue [[Jannus Live]] (formerly known as Jannus Landing) memorializes the flight.

The early 1920s saw the beginning of a land boom in much of Florida, including Pinellas. During this period municipalities issued a large number of bonds to keep pace with the needed infrastructure, such as roads and bridges. The travel time to Tampa was cut in half—from {{convert|43|to|19|mi}}—by the opening of the [[Gandy Bridge]] in 1924, along the same route Jannus' airline used. It was the longest automobile toll bridge in the world at the time.

[[Prohibition in the United States|Prohibition]] was unpopular in the area and the peninsula's inlets and islands were used by [[Rum-running|rum-runners]] bringing in liquor from Cuba. Others distilled [[moonshine]] in the county's still plentiful woods.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sptimes.com/2002/09/04/SouthPinellas/For_Coquina_Key__cycl.shtml|title=Southpinellas: For Coquina Key, cycle of rum, boom and bust|work=sptimes.com|access-date=November 6, 2015}}</ref>

===Great Depression and World War II===
As was the case in much of Florida, the [[Great Depression]] came early to Pinellas with the collapse of the real estate boom in 1926. Local economies came into severe difficulties, and by 1930, St. Petersburg defaulted on its bonds. Only after World War II would significant growth return to the area. During the war, the area's tourist industry collapsed, but thousands of recruits came to the area when the U.S. military decided to use the area for training. Area hotels became barracks. The [[Vinoy Park Hotel]] was used as an Army training school. The area's women and girls participated in the war effort as well. Hundreds of girls from the area's most prominent families formed a group called the Bomb-a-Dears, holding dances, socializing with recruits, and selling war bonds.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/columns/during-world-war-ii-st-pete-had-its-bomb-a-dears/1197832|title=During World War II, St. Pete had its Bomb-a-Dears|work=Tampa Bay Times|access-date=November 6, 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924151958/http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/columns/during-world-war-ii-st-pete-had-its-bomb-a-dears/1197832|archive-date=September 24, 2015}}</ref> After the war many of these same soldiers remembered their wartime experience in Pinellas well, and returned as tourists or residents.

===Recent history===
With the end of the Second World War, Pinellas would enter another period of rapid growth and development. In 1954 the original span of the [[Sunshine Skyway Bridge]] was opened, replacing earlier ferry service. By 1957 Clearwater was America's fastest growing city.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.tampabay.com/news/obituaries/mayor-packed-ideas-pipe-tobacco-in-rich-public-life/1121765|title=Andrew Meacham, "Mayor packed ideas, pipe tobacco in rich public life," September 15, 2010|newspaper=[[Tampa Bay Times]]|access-date=June 1, 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140605052841/http://www.tampabay.com/news/obituaries/mayor-packed-ideas-pipe-tobacco-in-rich-public-life/1121765|archive-date=June 5, 2014}}</ref>

Tragedy struck on May 9, 1980, when the southbound span of the original Sunshine Skyway Bridge was struck by the freighter [[MV Summit Venture|MV ''Summit Venture'']] during a storm, sending over {{convert|1200|ft}} of the bridge plummeting into Tampa Bay. The collision caused seven personal vehicles and a Greyhound bus to fall {{convert|150|ft}} into the water, killing 35 people.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Skyway bridge collapsed 40 years ago. Here's how we're remembering the tragedy. |url=https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida/2020/05/08/the-skyway-bridge-collapsed-40-years-ago-heres-how-were-remembering-the-tragedy/ |access-date=June 7, 2023 |website=Tampa Bay Times}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www2.sptimes.com/Weather/SW.2.html|title=Sunshine Skyway Disaster|work=sptimes.com|access-date=November 6, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070224072620/http://www2.sptimes.com/weather/SW.2.html|archive-date=February 24, 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sptimes.com/News/050700/TampaBay/Horrific_accident_cre.shtml|title=Tampabay: Horrific accident created an unforgettable scene|work=sptimes.com|access-date=November 6, 2015}}</ref> The new bridge opened in 1987 and has since been listed as number 3 of the "Top 10 Bridges" in the World by the [[Travel Channel]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.travelchannel.com/interests/road-trips/articles/worlds-top-10-bridges|title=World's Top 10 Bridges|work=Travel Channel|access-date=November 6, 2015}}</ref>

The county operates a {{convert|21|acre|adj=on}} [[living history]] museum called Heritage Village containing more than 28 historic structures, some dating back to the 19th century, where visitors can experience what life was once like in Pinellas.

Pinellas County celebrated 100 years of existence on January 1, 2012.