Welcome to Saint Petersburg, Florida!

St. Petersburg, Florida

About

Saint Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida. As of the 2014 census estimate, the population was over 250,000, which makes Saint Petersburg the 5th most populous city in the state of Florida. Saint Petersburg is the 2nd largest city in the Tampa Bay Area, after Tampa, composed of roughly 2.8 million residents, making it the second largest Metropolitan Statistical Area in the state. It is also a popular vacation destination for both American and foreign tourists. The city is located on a peninsula between Tampa Bay and the Gulf of Mexico and is connected to mainland Florida to the north.

Beginings

Saint Petersburg was incorporated into a city in June 1903. With this transition, the development of the downtown waterfront had dredging of a deeper shipping channel from 1906 to 1908 which opened Saint Petersburg to larger shipping. Further dredging improved the port facilities through the 1910’s. By then the city’s population had quadrupled to a population of over 4,000 citizens.

Climate

Saint Petersburg has a humid subtropical climate, closely bordering a tropical savanna climate, with a definite rainy season from June through September. St. Petersburg, like the rest of the Tampa Bay area, is occasionally affected by tropical storms and hurricanes. However, the last time a hurricane directly struck the city was in 1946. Many portions of St. Petersburg, especially along the bay and in south St. Petersburg, have tropical micro-climates. Royal palms and coconut palms, as well as other tropical plants, grow to maturity. St. Petersburg has not recorded any freezing temperatures in the 5-year period dating back to November 2010, which is the oldest data available from the local National Weather Service office page.

Education

St. Petersburg is home to several institutions of higher education. The University of South Florida St. Petersburg is an autonomous campus in the University of South Florida system. The University of South Florida St. Petersburg serves 6,500 students. Eckerd College, founded in 1958, is a private 4-year liberal arts college. St. Petersburg College is a state college in the Florida College System. Also in St. Petersburg is the Poynter Institute, a journalism institute which owns the Tampa Bay Times in a unique arrangement. Also, Stetson Law School is located in Gulfport, which is adjacent to St. Pete between the south beaches. Other colleges and universities in the wider Tampa Bay Area include the University of South Florida and the University of Tampa located in Tampa and Hillsborough Community College, with campuses across Hillsborough County.