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"Highest Point on Florida's Coast"
the attractiveness of Clearwater is that it is situated on Pinellas Peninsula, a beautiful finger of land which stretches into the delightful waters of the Gulf. This peninsula makes up Pinellas County, of which Clearwater is the county seat—the smallest but one of the richest and, we think, the most delightful counties in Florida. This peninsular county, thirty-four miles long, fifteen miles wide at its widest point, and having an area of 234 square miles, has a salt-water coastline of 128 miles, and no point in the county is more than eight miles from salt water. Clearwater is situated at the neck of the peninsula where it is only five miles from Clearwater Bay on the West to Old Tampa Bay on the East. Think of the ad- vantages this signifies from the standpoint of beauty, of aquatic sports, of water transportation, fishing industry, and above all of climatic superiorities! Is it any wonder that this county has become one of the greatest winter resort regions in the world, as well as a year-round home land, and that many towns and cities of nation-wide re- sort fame have grown up here in the past generation? Florida has two distinct sections, the coastal area and the inland hill and lake region. Clearwater has the advantage of combining the attractions of both hills and lakes and salt-water beaches in one delightful city.
Clearwater counts it a great advantage to her residents and winter visitors to be situated in the midst of a group of progressive, fast-growing and attractive communities, each offering its special attractions
and advantages and all co-operating to make the wonderful West Coast of Florida still more wonderful, still more delightful. Fifteen miles to the north is Tarpon Springs, home of the greatest sponge fisheries in the world. Twenty-eight miles to the east is Tampa, famous cigar city and world port. To the south eighteen miles is St. Petersburg, renowned resort city, and farther south but not far away are Bradenton, Sarasota, Venice and Fort Myers. Joining Clearwater on the north is Dunedin, on the east is Safety Harbor where the Espiritu Santo Springs are located, and on the south is Belleair, where is situated the magnificent Belleview-Biltmore Hotel. And round about Clearwater on the rolling hills to north and east and the more level stretches to southward are orange and grapefruit groves and garden lands.
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CLEARWATER
FLORIDA WEST COAST
"On the Gulf"
Clearwater Florida
"Where its Springtime all the Time"
[small oval drawing of a beach scene]
[Photograph of Clearwater Bay with sailboats "A view of beautiful Clearwater Bay which affords many delights to the boatsman and angler at all seasons."]
A City of Dreams Come True
SUNSHINE and blue skies... balmy breezes rustling the fronds of the palm trees... a springlike freshness in the air... mocking birds singing and seagulls winging overhead... broad avenues running down to the bay... artistic homes... beautiful parks... brilliant flowers... hibiscus and oleander, bignonia and bougainvillea, jasmine and roses... the heavy perfume of orange blossoms... laughter of children...cheerful, friendly people, working and playing... vigor... happiness... life! What is this we are describing? An Eldorado or Utopia? The kind of place man dreams of where he would like to live? No, it’s just a few highlights of Clearwater, ‘‘Where It’s
Springtime All the Time’’. Clearwater is verily a city of dreams, but the kind of dreams that come true. For, whether you seek a pleasant retreat from cold winters, from snow and ice, sleet and slush, and all the ills that go with them, or whether you want merely to make your home in a place of beauty that is “a joy forever’, you will find a happy answer to your desires in Clearwater, on Florida’s Gulf Coast.
Highest Point on Florida's Coast
CLEARWATER’S location is truly one of the most ideal that could be imagined. If you would skirt the entire 1,197 miles of Florida’s coast line, seeking the highest point, you would stop at Clearwater; for it is situated at the point of highest coastal elevation in the state. A hill rises sheer from the shore of Clearwater Bay and then slopes up more gradually to a higher point two miles inland—and on this sloping plateau looking out over the broad, blue sparkling waters of the Gulf of Mexico is Clearwater, a scintillating jewel in a beautiful setting.
A fact that adds much to [continued on page 4]
"Highest Point on Florida's Coast"
the attractiveness of Clearwater is that it is situated on Pinellas Peninsula, a beautiful finger of land which stretches into the delightful waters of the Gulf. This peninsula makes up Pinellas County, of which Clearwater is the county seat—the smallest but one of the richest and, we think, the most delightful counties in Florida. This peninsular county, thirty-four miles long, fifteen miles wide at its widest point, and having an area of 234 square miles, has a salt-water coastline of 128 miles, and no point in the county is more than eight miles from salt water. Clearwater is situated at the neck of the peninsula where it is only five miles from Clearwater Bay on the West to Old Tampa Bay on the East. Think of the ad- vantages this signifies from the standpoint of beauty, of aquatic sports, of water transportation, fishing industry, and above all of climatic superiorities! Is it any wonder that this county has become one of the greatest winter resort regions in the world, as well as a year-round home land, and that many towns and cities of nation-wide re- sort fame have grown up here in the past generation? Florida has two distinct sections, the coastal area and the inland hill and lake region. Clearwater has the advantage of combining the attractions of both hills and lakes and salt-water beaches in one delightful city.
Clearwater counts it a great advantage to her residents and winter visitors to be situated in the midst of a group of progressive, fast-growing and attractive communities, each offering its special attractions
and advantages and all co-operating to make the wonderful West Coast of Florida still more wonderful, still more delightful. Fifteen miles to the north is Tarpon Springs, home of the greatest sponge fisheries in the world. Twenty-eight miles to the east is Tampa, famous cigar city and world port. To the south eighteen miles is St. Petersburg, renowned resort city, and farther south but not far away are Bradenton, Sarasota, Venice and Fort Myers. Joining Clearwater on the north is Dunedin, on the east is Safety Harbor where the Espiritu Santo Springs are located, and on the south is Belleair, where is situated the magnificent Belleview-Biltmore Hotel. And round about Clearwater on the rolling hills to north and east and the more level stretches to southward are orange and grapefruit groves and garden lands.
[2 Photographs] Looking East at night from the Memorial Causeway to the city, resting on Florida's highest coast elevation. and an airplane view of the Causeway looking West toward the beach.
[8 photographs in 2 columns] Yacht and waterfront home. Motoboating, a popular sport. [Sailboat] Ready for a sail along the keys. Bathers in front of a Clearwater beach pavilion. Returning from a fishing party on the Gulf. Bird's-eye view of Clearwater Beach. Another version of "The Old Fishin' Hole." Private yacht at anchor in the bay.
"Where It's Springtime All The Time"
"Where It's Springtime All The Time"
LOCATION and climate are naturally intertwined, and in Clearwater, as you may imagine from what we have already told you, the combination is almost perfect. Being halfway down the Gulf Coast of Florida, Clearwater is far enough south to be out of the frost belt, completely removed from snow and ice, from sleet and slush, from the regions of heavy clothes and furnaces. Yet it is not so far south as to have the disadvantages of extreme heat in the summertime. Its surrounding waters, moreover, have a remarkable effect in tempering the heat of the summer and the cold of winter. The reason for this is easy to understand. For water changes its temperature more slowly than atmosphere, particularly large bodies of water such as Tampa Bay which lies east and south of Clearwater and the Gulf which stretches a thousand miles to the west. Whichever way the breezes may blow, they blow across water here and bring with them some of its warmth in winter, some of its coolness in summer. Temperature records show that Clearwater is two to three degrees warmer in winter and as much cooler in summer than are inland communities in the same latitude. The average winter temperature is sixty-five degrees; the average for the summer is seventy-nine: the average for the year is seventy-two. Clearwater, moreover, has a low humidity for a sea-coast city, a fact which frees it from the sultry days ordinarily experienced in summer.
People who have suffered through hot summer days in northern states naturally suppose that Florida in the summer must be unbearably hot. The actual conditions, therefore, are invariably one of the big surprises Florida offers, and we think this is particularly true of Clearwater with its high elevation that catches the breezes always blowing over the water. It is a note- worthy fact that the highest temperature on record here in the hottest months of summer for the past ten years was ninety-six degrees, and never has there been known here a death from sunstroke or heat prostration. Where else except in Florida can such a claim be made?
One other interesting and important fact about Clear-[continued on page 8]
"Highest Point on Florida's Coast"
water’s climatic conditions is that it has plenty of rain for every need—an average of about fifty inches yearly. This rainfall, further, has been happily arranged by Nature so that it comes when it is most needed. In the winter months only occasional rains fall—just enough to keep gardens and groves in condition; but in summer when many parts of the country are dry and parched, Florida has its almost daily showers which cool the air and keep all vegetation verdant. In winter there is rarely a day when your golf game would be interrupted by rain—usually not six days in the entire winter. And there is seldom a day when you cannot with comfort play in the
outdoors without coat or hat, invigorated by the clean, smokeless air you breathe here and warmed by the healthful sunshine.
A City of Beautiful Homes
CLEARWATER was not established as a resort city. It was founded by people who came here years ago to build happy homes in this favored land where life is richly filled with the joys of living. Today it is still known as a city of homes, and one of the characteristics of Clearwater most frequently remarked about by visitors is the unusual beauty of its residences.
In the past five years Clearwater’s resident population has more than doubled, a fact that holds convincing evidence of the community’s year-round appeal. Did these people come to make their permanent homes here? No, they came as winter visitors, but stayed because they were charmed by the attractions and advantages and opportunities of the city.
Unlike the conventional resort town where cottages are built inexpensively to be lived in only a few months of the year, Clearwater has been built as the stable, substantial, year-round city that it is. Its public buildings are splendid structures, its schools and church buildings are among the finest in the state, and its homes are examples of the best developments in home architecture. Go along some of Clearwater’s avenues bordered with palms or canopied with great live-oaks, see on either side picturesque homes surrounded by green lawns, [continued on page 11]
[Drawing of Clearwater Bay from a home, overlooking a garden] Clearwater Bay in midwinter as viewed from one of the city's magnificent waterfront homes, where once stood Old Fort Harrison.
[8 pictures of large homes with gardens in front] Just a few of Clearwater's Many Beautiful Homes.
shaded by majestic trees, and decorated with flowers that bloom all year; hear the merry laughter of children; see the neighbors bidding one another their friendly greetings; notice the trim gardens, the beauty and cleanliness, the pride of ownership which is everywhere displayed—and you will say to yourself, “‘Surely these people have learned the fine art of living, surely it must be pleasant to dwell in such surroundings.”’
That is what hundreds of others have said and hundreds of them who have come to enjoy a few winter months here have come back to stay and to enjoy all the days of their lives, “Where It’s Springtime All the Time.”
A Leading Resort Center
ALL these advantages of location, of climate and of general living conditions that make Clearwater a desirable place in which to make a permanent home have also made it one of the leading resort cities of the South. Years ago when West Florida was not so accessible as it is today, a few of the more daring spirits sought out this section to try the fishing which has always been so excellent here and to experiment with the other varied delights of the Gulf Coast. Their experience was so satisfying that they went back and spread the news of this fascinating place and its spring-like climate, and the next year others came, and so the city grew. Homes were built, hotels took form, apartment houses were constructed, new roads were opened, railways were extended—and the invitation was sent forth to the world to “‘enjoy winter in Clearwater.”
Each winter the crowds have come in increasing numbers until last season the community’s accommodations, which are already several times as plentiful and excellent as those of the average city of this size, were taxed to the limit. And again Clearwater is forced to expand to provide for its growing host of visitors. Can greater evidence be given of a city’s attractions?
"Highest Point On Florida's Coast"
Accomodations
IN Clearwater you will find hotels ranging from the most magnificent and fashionable to the more modest and homelike. Excellent apartment houses and many charming furnished homes are also available for the winter season. You can find in Clearwater accommodations to suit almost every purse and every taste.
The Fort Harrison Hotel, located in the heart of the city, just off the Bay and Gull, is one of the finest hostelries in the state. It has 253 rooms, each with a private bath; it has a two-story root garden, a front promenade, a tropical garden in the rear, and offers the best of appointments and service at moderate rates. The Gray Moss Inn which has for many years been noted for its splendid service and hospitality, its atmosphere of comfort and refinement, has recently increased its capacity to more than a hundred rooms.
The West Coast Hotel is a new modern structure which proved very popular during its first season. The famous Belleview-Biltmore at Belleair on Clearwater Bay, but five minutes from down-town Clearwater, is the largest and most complete of the tourist hotels on the West Coast. This institution has approximately 600 rooms, two golf courses, yacht harbor, swimming pool and many other attractions and each winter entertains many of America’s most wealthy and notable people.
Other hotels include Clearwater Beach Hotel, Princess Ulelah Inn, Sea Ora Lodge, Sunset Point Tavern, Borden Hotel, and many smaller hotels and boarding houses. At Dunedin on Clearwater Bay, adjoining the city limits to the north, are located the Fenway Hotel and Hotel Dunedin.
Sport and Entertainment
NEXT to the warm winter climate in attracting visitors to Clearwater is the glorious outdoor life which the climate and surroundings make possible. The whole of Florida has been accepted as the nation’s winter playground and Clearwater is one of its most charming and most popular centers. Here are combined in one locality facilities and opportunities for enjoying almost every sport you could desire.
[7 photographs of Clearwater area hotels] Belleview-Biltmore Hotel. Fort Harrison Hotel. West Coast Hotel. Sunset Point Tavern. Hotel Fenway. Garden Seat Tea Room. Gray Moss Inn.
"Where it's Springtime All the Time."
Swimming
To many the most alluring sport attraction of Clearwater is the salt-water surf bathing which may be enjoyed at her Gulf beaches throughout the year. Clearwater Beach, a magnificent stretch of white, sandy shore, is only two miles from the heart of the city and is connected with the main- land by the new Million Dollar Memorial Causeway which is free to the public. There you'll find bathing pavilions, playgrounds, diving piers, hotels, cottages, an amusement park and a huge board walk.
All through the year this great beach is dotted and at times crowded with bathers, taking an invigorating and exhilarating dip in the Gulf, tasting the thrill of aquaplaning, or just enjoying a sun bath and acquiring a coat of tan. In the summer months hundreds of cars, filled with happy folks from inland Florida towns, stream across Clear- water Causeway every day to frolic in the Gulf and later enjoy a picnic on the beach as the great red sun splashes into the amethyst sea, or as the wonderful southern moon rises behind the palm trees and phosphorescent waves roll upon the shore.
To many Clearwater families no day is quite complete without a trip to the beach and a delightful swim at Florida’s Summer Resort.
Golf
Possibly next in popularity among Clearwater’s sport features are its attractions to the golfer. The entire West Coast of Florida is a golfer’s paradise with nearly two score courses scattered from Fort Myers to Tarpon Springs and New Port Richey. And in the center of this golf arena is Clearwater, which has become known as “The Golf Capital of Florida.”
At Clearwater there are four excellent eighteen-hole courses within a three-mile radius from the center of the city. Adjoining the city limits on the north is the splendid Dunedin Isles course. To the south, just ad- joining the city limits, are the two famous eighteen-hole Belleview-Biltmore layouts. And to the east, within the city limits, is the Clearwater Country Club course. Besides these there are within the county and less than an hour's ride away at least six other courses, all of which are open to the public at reasonable greens fees.
The Clearwater Country Club course which has been the scene of several championship tournaments, is one of the [continues on page 19]
[3 photographs of people playing golf] Scenes at Clearwater Country Club Course: rolling fairways and interesting hazards in a setting of natural beauty. The third tee. Woodland Bordered Fairways. The gallery following a Championship Tournament.
[A painting of many people on a beach] Sunny, colorful Clearwater Beach almost any day of the year.
[8 Photographs of recreation activities available in Clearwater] An open-air concert in Midwinter. One of Clearwater's Roque Courts. Shuffleboard. The large lawn-bowling area in the city park. The pool at the Belleview-Biltmore. Horseshoes. Children's playground at Clearwater Beach. The largest checker-board in the world.
"Where It's Springtime All the Time"
most interesting links in the South. It has wide rolling fairways bordered by palms and pines and oaks, and with plenty of natural hazards to make play interesting to both the experienced golfer and the beginner. It has commodious grass greens, green all winter and in the finest of condition. The club house, equipped with spacious locker rooms and shower baths for both ladies and gentlemen is available to visiting players.
While each season brings forth one or more professional golfing events of interest to local and visiting golfers of Clearwater as spectators, the Tournament Committee of the Clearwater Country Club believes that much more interest is manifested and more pleasure derived through golfers entering tournaments themselves. Many interesting events including invitation tournaments are therefore provided for the interest and pleasure of the golfers spending the winter in Clearwater. As many as sixty-five and seventy golfers from neighboring cities enter the invitation meets.
FISHING
Quite naturally, with such an abundance of water around this city, fishing is another favorite sport here. Many a thrill awaits the angler who drops his line or casts his plug into the blue waters of the Gulf of Mexico or Old Tampa Bay. According to authorities, there are in these waters some 600 different species of fish and it is not uncommon to catch a dozen or more varieties on one fishing trip.
For real sport skilled fishermen say that nothing excels a fight with a tarpon, the Silver King, the king of all game fish which abounds in Gulf Coast waters. This fish which grows to 200 pounds in weight and six feet in length sometimes requires hours of careful playing to be landed, and his majestic leaps into the air and his powerful rushes are among the experiences of which real fish stories are spun. Many fishermen come to Clearwater each spring for the chief purpose of tarpon fishing. Many boats and guides are available for these fishing trips.
Among other species of fish most common in these waters are the kingfish, grouper, red snapper, mangrove snapper, robalo, red fish, grunt, baloon fish, mackerel, seatrout, sheepshead, sea bass, and pompano. Swordfish, shark and devilfish are sometimes caught in the deeper waters of the Gulf. Also in the inland fresh-water lakes [continued on page 20]
"Highest Point on Florida's Coast"
not far from Clearwater are to be found many big-mouth bass which grow to an unusual size in Florida, some specimens weighing nearly 20 pounds.
The fact that commercial fishermen on Florida’s West Coast bring in over a hundred million pounds a year is the best evidence we can offer that there is an abundance of fish to satisfy your greatest fishing aspirations, no matter how long they have been deferred.
BOATING
Along with fishing and swimming goes the other aquatic sport of boating, and in this Clearwater has the rarest of delights and opportunities to offer. For surely nowhere in the world are there so many intriguing and alluring water- ways inviting one to launch some kind of boat and go off on a cruise or a series of cruises up and down the coast, behind myriad islands which skirt the shore, up bays and bayous and meandering rivers that lead one knows not where.
Clearwater, as we have mentioned before, looks down upon Clearwater Bay, one of the most glorious expanses of water one could imagine, a landlocked haven for every kind of pleasure craft, and beyond the bay, separated only by a chain of islands, is the magnificent Gulf of Mexico.
Two yacht basins have been provided, one opposite the Belleview-Biltmore Hotel and the other, the Clearwater Yacht Club basin, near the Memorial Causeway and the business center of the city. Each winter many yachts and cruisers from all parts of America make Clearwater their cruising base.
Clearwater Bay and the adjacent Gulf are the scenes of many popular water sports, particularly yacht and motor- boat races. Many interesting meets are held under the auspices of the Clearwater Yacht Club, an active organization with a large resident and non-resident membership. Aspirant seekers of elaborate trophies should enter these interesting events, particularly the annual midwinter regatta.
OTHER SPORTS
AND ENTERTAINMENT
A wide variety of games and recreation is offered in the City Park which overlooks Clearwater Bay and is centrally located, within easy walking distance of hotels and apartments and the business district. This waterfront play- ground is the home of the various Tourist Clubs, where they get together for the development of a better spirit of fellowship, compete in games, and enjoy together the balmy [sentence ends here- missing pages]
[6 photographs of the Clearwater area] One of the large planes bringing passengers to Clearwater. Enjoying Clearwater Beach. Trap-shooting at Clearwater Gun Club. Big League Baseball Teams practicing at Clearwater Athletic Field. An interleague practice game.
[3 photographs, 2 churches and a hospital] Two of Clearwater's beautiful churches- The Presbyterian church and The Baptist Church. Lower picture- The Morton F. Plant Hospital.
"Where It's Springtime All The Time"
Schools and Churches
PROSPECTIVE winter visitors and permanent residents are alike interested in the kind of schools and churches a city has. Clearwater, fortunately, will never disappoint anyone in respect to either of these institutions. Its schools are rated among the best in the state and both their equipment and their instruction are of the highest type. The city has recently completed a new Junior High School and a new Senior High School building, each equipped and planned in the most modern way and having an excellent corps of instructors. Several Grade schools are located in different parts of the city and all are marked with the same high standards of education. Private schools of excellent reputation are also available here.
Athletics hold their proper place in Clearwater’s school training. The Clearwater Athletic Field is used by the schools for their football, baseball and track events. It is an interesting fact that the stage of the High School auditorium is large enough to accommodate a regulation basketball court and is used for this purpose with exceptional success from the standpoint of both players and spectators.
Special provision is made by Clearwater schools for the entrance of children of winter visitors at any time during the school year, particular attention being given them so that they may not be at a disadvantage because of changing schools or losing time.
An increasing number of parents each year bring their children to Clearwater to enter them in school here so that they may be free from the dangers of winter illnesses and may benefit by life in the great out-doors and the health-giving sunshine with which this city is blessed. Many of these families have lingered through the summer months and have thus become permanent residents.
In its churches Clearwater takes extraordinary pride and well she may, for some of them are among the most beautiful churches in Florida, as the illustrations in this booklet will indicate. Among the denominations represented are Baptist, Catholic, Christian, Christian Science, Episcopal, Methodist Episcopal and Presbyterian.
Hospital facilities in Clearwater are modern in every detail and a high-grade staff of both surgeons and nurses are in control.
"Highest Point on Florida's Coast"
Transportation
CLEARWATER now offers every form of transportation facility. You can come to the Springtime City by rail, by motor, by water or by air.
RAILWAYS
Both the Atlantic Coastline Railroad and the Seaboard Airline Railway serve Clearwater, their main trunk lines passing through this city and connecting it with points south and north and across the state. The best of service is offered by both of these companies, and all during the winter season Through Pullman Service is provided from all the larger cities of the country. This means that you can get on your train at any important center and come straight through to Clearwater without changing cars. The time required is now less than thirty-six hours from New York and proportionate time from other points. On direct route to East Coast via Seaboard Cross-State Service.
HIGHWAYS
Each year more and more people are coming to Clear- water in their own motor cars. In recent years the highways of the entire country have been so perfected and those of Florida are so extensive and excellent that a motor trip to Florida offers unusual delights, and can be made from any- where east of the Mississippi in only a few days. Not the least of the advantages of driving to Clearwater is the enjoyment and value you will receive from the use of your car after you get here.
Florida now has one of the finest highway systems in the United States, including more than 6,000 miles of paved roads and nearly an equal amount of hard-surfaced roads. Thus every part of the state is linked with every other part and it is only a few hours’ drive to any point of unusual interest. In Pinellas County alone are about 600 miles of pavement, linking beautiful cities together, leading through orange and grapefruit groves and garden lands, skirting pleasant lakes, or winding across great causeways and bridges and over the sand keys of the Gulf. Also on Sunshine Loop of the Tamiami Trail.
WATERWAYS
Much the same can be said of the advantages of coming to Clearwater by water; for he who can bring his own yacht or cruiser to these en- [continued on page 29]
[Painting of people playing golf] Twin Greens 9 and 18 at Clearwater Country Club
[Photographs of 8 of Clearwater's public buildings] A few of Clearwater's attractive public buildings: business section looking south on Fort Harrison Avenue. Pinellas County Court House. Guaranty Title and Trust Company. Bank of Clearwater. Peoples Bank of Clearwater. The First National Bank. Community House. City Hall.
"Where It's Springtime All The TIme"
chanted shores will enjoy many delights unknown to the “landlubber.”
Those who wish to travel part of the way to Clearwater by steamer may come from Atlantic ports via Jacksonville or from New Orleans via Tampa. Passenger steamers also run on regular schedule between Tampa and Havana for those desiring a special excursion to Cuba.
AIRWAYS
And now you can come by air! Clearwater has provided an excellent Municipal Airport, centrally located, but a short distance from the waterfront and the business district. Excellent anchorage is provided for seaplanes in
Clearwater Bay on either side of the Municipal Causeway. Planes are available for short trips to Clearwater Beach, to St. Petersburg, Tampa, and to various parts of the state at reasonable rates. Visiting planes are well cared for. Regular service from Clearwater to Cuba has been inaugurated and service to points north is planned to be established in the near future. Several groups from central points in the North landed at the local Airport in tri-motored planes the past winter season. An indication of Clearwater’s leadership in aviation in Florida is the fact that the Tropical Airways, Inc., located here, now has the Florida and Cuba agency for the Stinson-Detroiter planes.
Agriculture and Industry
THE substantial and stable year-round character of Clearwater is explained by the fact that this is not a “‘one-business city.”’ For in addition to its winter resort business, it is a well- and-long-established agricultural center and has a few industrial enterprises of importance.
Clearwater is the marketing and shipping center for the great citrus crop of Pinellas County which last year amounted to more than three thousand carloads, totaling in value several millions of dollars. Seven modern packing houses do a thriving business in Clearwater while a score of others are within trucking distance. The county has 16,000 acres in citrus groves and several hundred acres in truck gardens.
At Clearwater also are two large plants for the canning of Pinellas County grapefruit, shipping more than three million cans a year.
A strawberry growers’ association, just formed, promises to result in a materially increased production in this very valuable winter crop.
[8 Photographs of Clearwater agriculture] Citrus groves stretching as far as the eye can see. A young grapefruit tree. A dairy farm near Clearwater. Poultry farm. A field of celery. One of Clearwater's grapefruit canneries. Typical Clearwater packing house. Splendid highways lead in all directions.
"Where It's Springtime All the Time"
Espiritu Santo Sparings
ADJOINING Clearwater on the east is beautiful Safety Harbor on the shores of Old Tampa Bay, where is located the famous Espiritu Santo Springs. These springs discovered by DeSoto in 1539 are sometimes spoken of as the Carlsbad of Florida. A splendid sanatorium has been built around the springs, as well as a number of hotels, boarding houses and homes. Each year many people come here to benefit by the healing powers which these waters are said to possess—mysterious but effective powers for the treatment of a wide variety of ailments.
Living Costs Are Reasonable
LIVING costs in Clearwater are on the average no higher than in any city of similar size anywhere in America. In fact, it is frequently contended that, everything considered, costs for year-round living are actually less here than elsewhere. Commodity prices, you will find, are about the same as in your own city. Some food prices will be a little higher, some a little lower than those you are accustomed to pay.
Fuel bills are cut to almost nothing here—a real saving of money as well as of labor and coal-smoke nuisance. Heavy
winter clothes are not required, which means another saving. And so it is with other things. It has been the discovery of
this fact, indeed, which in recent years has persuaded many people who wished to retire on a modest, a comfortable or a handsome income, to make their home in Clearwater where living conditions are so ideal and where the chances of enjoying a longer and healthier and happier life are so much better than in many less favored regions. Accommodations for winter visitors, too, are very reasonable. Every taste and purse may be satisfied, whether the preference is for the quiet, unpretentious, homelike inn, apartment or cottage or for the fashionable hostelry with every service and the most lavish appointments. Elegantly furnished homes may also be leased for the winter season.
"Highest Point on Florida's Coast"
Health, Happiness, and Contentment
MANY prominent authorities have stated the belief that the average man and woman can add ten years to their lives by coming to Florida to live. Surely, it is true that Florida people are unusually free from most of the ills that flesh is heir to. Especially does this health appeal apply to those early years of childhood and the years past middle age when life’s forces are not so strong to resist the ravages of the northern winter. Florida is a wonderful land for children; for they can play outdoors all the year, getting the benefit of the fresh air and sunshine and exercise without the dangers of exposure to disease. And if this be true of children, why should it not also be true of the adult?
Happiness and contentment? Surely, if we have health and the joy of the outdoors and the wealth of opportunities and advantages which Florida and Clearwater in particular offer, then happiness and contentment would naturally follow. That, at least, has been the experience of many who have already come to Clearwater and who now invite you to share the advantages they now enjoy.
Radio Station WFLA
This popular broadcasting station, regularly reaching all points throughout the North, is municipally owned and is operated by the Clearwater Chamber of Commerce. Consult late editions of radio directories and leading newspapers for wave length and operating schedule. If your trip to Clearwater is delayed, tune in on our interesting programs of entertainment, weather reports, citrus market quotations, news briefs.
In this booklet we have tried to give you as clear and complete a picture of Clearwater as it is possible to paint with words and pictures. But after it is completed, we realize that much has been left unsaid. We realize that somehow the real spirit of Clearwater cannot be conveyed in cold type and photographic print. There is but one satisfactory way for you to know Clearwater and that is to come and see for yourself. We invite you to do this. Plan now to come. Come next winter. Come at any season of the year. Come to REALLY live in the hills of Clearwater overlooking Bay and Gulf. See Clearwater at her best and at her worst—and we believe you'll agree that her worst is far better than the best that most locations in the world can offer. At any rate, Clearwater is willing to be put to the test. We invite you to come and judge for yourself.
If in any way the Clearwater Chamber of Commerce can be of further service to you by supplying any special information, please write. We are at your service.
CLEARWATER CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
Chicago Manual of Style
Clearwater Chamber of Commerce (Fla.). A booklet for Clearwater Florida, circa 1928. 1928 (circa). State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory. <https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/351009>, accessed 3 December 2024.
MLA
Clearwater Chamber of Commerce (Fla.). A booklet for Clearwater Florida, circa 1928. 1928 (circa). State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory. Accessed 3 Dec. 2024.<https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/351009>
AP Style Photo Citation
(State Archives of Florida/Clearwater Chamber of Commerce (Fla.))