The Tarpon Springs Depot is a former railroad depot built by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in 1909, located in downtown Tarpon Springs, Florida at 160 East Tarpon Avenue within the Tarpon Springs Historic District. [1]
The former rail line that serviced the depot, originally built by the Orange Belt Railway in 1888 and last used for a series of special excursion trips to nearby Dunedin and back on March 8, 1987, was converted into a section of the Pinellas Trail in the 1990s. [2]
The building is now home to the Historic Depot Museum, operated by the Tarpon Springs Area Historical Society. The museum's exhibits focus on local history and culture, including the role that the railroad played in the growth of the town, education, health care, and local institutions.
Pinellas County is a county located on the west central coast of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 959,107, which makes it the seventh-most populous county in the state. It is also the most densely populated county in Florida, with 3,491 residents per square mile. The county is part of the Tampa–St. Petersburg–Clearwater Metropolitan Statistical Area. Clearwater is the county seat. St. Petersburg is the largest city in the county, as well as the largest city in Florida that is not a county seat.
Holiday is a census-designated place (CDP) in Pasco County, Florida, United States. It is a suburb of the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 24,939 as of the 2020 census.
Dunedin is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. The name comes from Dùn Èideann, the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Dunedin is part of the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metropolitan area and is the fifth largest city in Pinellas County. The population was 36,068 as of the 2020 census.
East Lake is a census-designated place (CDP) in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. The population was 30,962 at the 2010 census. It was one of the last areas in the densely populated county to develop. It is often confused with East Lake in neighboring Hillsborough County.
Oldsmar is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 14,898. The Oldsmar name dates to April 12, 1916, when automobile pioneer Ransom E. Olds purchased 37,541 acres (151.92 km2) of land north of Tampa Bay to establish a planned community.
Palm Harbor is a census-designated place and unincorporated community in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. As of the 2016 American Community Survey, the CDP had a population of 60,236.
Tarpon Springs is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. The population was 23,484 at the 2010 census. Downtown Tarpon Springs has long been a focal point and is undergoing beautification.
Boca Grande is a small residential community on Gasparilla Island in southwest Florida. Gasparilla Island is a part of both Charlotte and Lee counties, while the actual village of Boca Grande, which is home to many seasonal and some year-round residents, is entirely in the Lee County portion of the island. It is part of the Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. Boca Grande is known for its historic downtown, sugar sand beaches, blue water and world class fishing.
The Tampa Bay area is a major metropolitan area surrounding Tampa Bay on the Gulf Coast of Florida in the United States. It includes the main cities of Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Clearwater. It is the 18th-largest metropolitan area in the United States, with a population of 3,175,275 as of the 2020 U.S. Census.
Hamilton Disston was an industrialist and real-estate developer who purchased 4 million acres (16,000 km²) of Florida land in 1881, an area larger than the state of Connecticut, and reportedly the most land ever purchased by a single person in world history. Disston was the son of Pennsylvania-based industrialist Henry Disston who formed Disston & Sons Saw Works, which Hamilton later ran and which was one of the largest saw manufacturing companies in the world.
Timeline of Pinellas County, Florida history.
The Fred Marquis Pinellas Trail is a rail trail in Pinellas County, Florida. It stretches from Tarpon Springs in the north to St. Petersburg in the south, passing through the towns of Palm Harbor, Dunedin, Belleair, Clearwater, Largo, Seminole, South Pasadena, and Gulfport. It is utilized for walking, jogging, and cycling. Some trail users are able to commute to work using the Pinellas Trail instead of a motor vehicle.
The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad was a US Class I railroad from 1900 until 1967. The following former and active train stations were previously used by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. Many of them are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
St. Petersburg station was a passenger train station in St. Petersburg, Florida. Located northwest of downtown, its former address was 3601 31st Street North, though access to the site is now only from 37th Avenue North.
The Orange Belt Railway was a 3 ft narrow gauge railroad established in 1885 by Russian exile Peter Demens in Florida. It was one of the longest narrow gauge railroads in the United States at the time of its completion in 1888, with a mainline 152 miles (245 km) in length between Sanford and St. Petersburg. It carried citrus, vegetables, and passengers; and it interchanged with two standard gauge lines: the Jacksonville, Tampa and Key West Railway at Lake Monroe, and the Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad at Lacoochee.
The Bay Pines Veterans Administration Home and Hospital Historic District is a U.S. historic district located at 10000 Bay Pines Blvd. in Bay Pines, Florida. The district contains prehistoric aboriginal sites and fourteen Mediterranean Revival style hospital buildings constructed from the 1930s. The district is home to the Bay Pines Veterans Affairs Medical Center, a general medical and surgical hospital with 396 beds. It is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF).
The Dunedin History Museum is a local history museum located in downtown Dunedin in the U.S. state of Florida. Founded in 1970, the museum is housed in a former railroad depot built by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in 1924. The former rail line that serviced the depot, originally built by the Orange Belt Railway in 1888 and last used for a series of special excursion trips from nearby Tarpon Springs and back on March 8, 1987, was converted into a section of the Pinellas Trail in the 1990s. The museum contains more than 2,000 artifacts, 2,500 photographs, and a library of books that convey a great deal of information on Dunedin's past. The museum provides special programming for schools and summer camps as well as a rotating special exhibit gallery.
The Clearwater Subdivision is a railroad line owned by CSX Transportation in the Tampa Bay region of Florida. The line begins just east of downtown Tampa in Gary and heads north through some of Tampa's suburban neighborhoods. In Sulphur Springs, the Clearwater Subdivision turns and runs west through Oldsmar, where it crosses Tampa Bay. It briefly shifts south running through Safety Harbor, and then heads west again to Clearwater. In Clearwater, it turns southeast, running through Largo and Pinellas Park before terminating at Fifth Avenue North in St. Petersburg near Tropicana Field. The distance from Gary to St. Petersburg along the line is 48.6 miles (78.2 km). At the line's north end it continues from the Tampa Terminal Subdivision and at its south end the track comes to an end.
The Tampa and Gulf Coast Railroad (T&G) was a railroad company in the Tampa Bay Area of Florida in the United States. It initially built and operated a line that ran from the Tampa Northern Railroad main line in Lutz west to Tarpon Springs and into Pasco County. Additional track starting from Sulphur Springs running west towards Clearwater and south to St. Petersburg was built shortly after. The railroad was informally known as the "Tug n' Grunt". While it was the second railroad to serve St. Petersburg and Clearwater after the Orange Belt Railway, it had the advantage of being the first to connect the area directly with Tampa.
Pinellas High School was a public high school from 1934 until 1968 in Clearwater, Florida. It served African Americans from the surrounding area of northern Pinellas County including Largo, Clearwater, Dunedin, Safety Harbor and Tarpon Springs during the era of segregation. It was at 1220 Palmetto Street. During its existence, it was the first segregated school in the region and it was the only school exclusively serving Black students in Pinellas County.
| Preceding station | Atlantic Coast Line Railroad | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seaside toward St. Petersburg | Orange Belt Railway | Keystone Park toward Sanford | ||
