From Shacks to Streets: A Pioneer’s Memories of Early Pinellas

In 1960, a reporter sat down with pioneer Edward Durant (pictured), who described what he saw when he first stepped onto Pinellas sand in 1885. Big Bayou held only a few shacks, and there was even less in what would become St. Petersburg.

His family quickly set to work filling the gaps in a place still more pine forest than town. His father, Charles, planted the first citrus grove, opened the first bakery, and became one of the area’s early civic leaders. His mother, Jennie, helped beautify Williams Park and joined other women in laying the first sidewalks along Central Avenue.

Edward spent his teens working wherever he could, from helping at early community events to pulling chain for survey crews as the Orange Belt Railroad pushed into the settlement. He later worked for the St. Petersburg Times, learned the cigar trade, and eventually founded the Pinellas Cigar Co., one of the region’s early businesses.

Looking back late in life, he recalled sandy streets, scattered houses, and a growing sense that the place was beginning to take shape. He lived to see the city transform, yet never lost those early memories.