Editing Pinellas County, Florida (section)

===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>