Westminster Heights Neighborhood Plan - City of St. Petersburg

WESTMINSTER HEIGHTS NEIGHBORHOOD PLAN
HISTORY
History provides an important context and background for any group or organization trying to plan its future.
St. Petersburg’s unique development pattern evolved from the convergence of three waterfront areas: Tampa
Bay, northern Boca Ciega Bay, and southern Boca Ciega Bay in Gulfport. Key to the development was the
railroad and, later a trolley system. This was especially true in the area that became Westminster Heights. As
the landboom in the 1920s spread, the train and trolley systems were key tools in the initial development and
marketing of new areas.
Orange Belt Railroad
Peter Demens (the Anglicization of his native Russian name of Petrovitch A.
Demenscheff) purchased the Orange Belt Railroad and expanded it south to St.
Petersburg in May 1888. It was one of the last of Florida’s narrow gauge lines.
(Railroads developed independently with lines being bought, sold and combined
frequently and it took many years before track width or gauge was standardized. The
narrow gauge slowly became obsolete.) Demens eventually sold Orange Belt and
through several transactions the line became part of the Henry Plant railroad system
and then both subsumed by Atlantic Coast Lines, Seaboard Air Line Railroad (logo
shown) and its final successor CSX. The southern boundary of Westminster Heights
was once the Orange Belt line. The abandoned lines in St. Petersburg became the Pinellas Trail.
The Westminster Heights Neighborhood has changed dramatically over its short history. A quarter of present
day Westminster Heights is made up of the Forest Hills Subdivision built by F. J. Burns. Forest Hills was
developed in 1923 and encompassed 137 lots from 5 th to 7 th (now 6 th ) Avenues South. According to a St.
Petersburg Times article by Scott Taylor Hartzell (2-26-2003 page 6) Forest Hills along with Burns’ other
developments Bellecrest Heights and Waterview Park subdivisions were “among the highest points between
Tampa Bay and Boca Ciega Bay.” Hartzell went on to say that the press of the time wrote “Coconut palms and
semitropical shrubbery colored Forest Hills. Cement sidewalks and graded streets were a highlight. Forest Hills
is one of the most attractive properties that has been placed on the market."
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