Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Pinellas Park

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
DHistory
History · Pinellas Park

Pinellas Park’s post office opened in 1910

More historic than 5% of U.S. towns · #555 of 638 in Florida. What drives it

Most of Pinellas Park was built recently: 0.5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1978. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1921 on, and the census since 1920.

1910first post office
0on the National Register
0.5%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
3famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Pinellas Park’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Pinellas Park began

When was Pinellas Park founded?

1910

The Pinellas Park post office opened in 1910, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 134 in 19202020 census: 53,093116 years

How historic is Pinellas Park?

D

More historic than 5% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Pinellas Park post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Pinellas Park’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Pinellas Park is more historic than 5% of U.S. towns, #555 of 638 in Florida. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Pinellas Park’s overall grade.
Founding era1910, from the first post office: founded 1900–1944, an older era than 9% of U.S. townsDHomes built before 19400.5% of homes (±0.3) · typical FL town 0.6% · U.S. 8.4%DNational RegisterNo listings counted · typical FL town 0.0 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 5%
NewerOlder
Florida towns of 2,500+ (638)Ahead of 13%

Few Florida towns list much on the Register (a typical Florida town has 0.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Pinellas Park’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (33% of Florida towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D− to D. The pre-1940 share (±0.3 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.

Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Pinellas Park’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 19216 editions of the USGS map, 1921 to 1998. Watch Pinellas Park change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Pinellas Park’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Pinellas Park’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewDrive-in cinema, Route 19: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Pinellas Park on the map, 1921 to 1998

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Pinellas Park. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Pinellas Park on the 1921 USGS mapPinellas Park on the 1947 USGS mapPinellas Park on the 1956 USGS mapPinellas Park on the 1969 USGS mapPinellas Park on the 1981 USGS mapPinellas Park on the 1998 USGS map1921St Petersburg sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Pinellas Park.

The story

How Pinellas Park came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Pinellas Park.

Read it all →

The city was founded by Philadelphia publisher F. A. Davis, who purchased 12,800 acres (52 km2) of Hamilton Disston's land around 1911. Davies used promotional brochures to lure northerners, especially Pennsylvanians, to the town, noting the pleasant climate in the winter and the agreeable agricultural conditions. The Florida Association, a corporation, set up model farms and offered a free lot in the city with the purchase of ten acres of nearby farm land. A two-story building called the Colony House was established to house prospective purchasers of the available farm plots. The primary crop that the founders intended to grow on the farms they established was sugar cane. By 1912, lots in the city were being sold separately. The City of Pinellas Park was formally incorporated on October 14, 1914.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Pinellas Park, 1910 to 1990

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 20th century
  2. 1910Post officeThe Pinellas Park post office opens
  3. 1921On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  4. 1962Born hereMike Cope is born here
  5. 1979In the archiveDrive-in cinema, Route 19
  6. 1985Born hereJesse Litsch is born here
  7. 1990Born hereNick Andries is born here
By decade

Pinellas Park, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1970s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1970s1 item
Drive-in cinema, Route 191979Drive-in cinema, Route 19
1980s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Date unknown1 to date
Sunshine Speedway, 4550 Ulmerton RoadDate?Sunshine Speedway, 4550 Ulmerton Road
Today16 recent
St Petersburg high end EF2 damage2020St Petersburg high end EF2 damageWB FL 686-688; Full-width Road Sign Gantry2019WB FL 686-688; Full-width Road Sign GantryTeen Lounge2018Teen LoungeTeen Lounge 22018Teen Lounge 2Florida National Guard2018Florida National GuardPark Station interior2016Park Station interiorCSX Clearwater Subdivision2016CSX Clearwater SubdivisionU.S. Army Spc. Cori Noble, a medic assigned to the 4224th U.S. Army Hospital, poses for a photo in Pinellas Park, Fla.,…2013U.S. Army Spc. Cori Noble, a medic assigned to the 42…Silver Linings2013Silver LiningsU.S. Soldiers with the Army Reserve Medical Command stand in formation at the C.W. Bill Young Armed Forces Reserve Cent…2012U.S. Soldiers with the Army Reserve Medical Command s…PPKoreanWarMemorial2006PPKoreanWarMemorialPPKoreanWarMemorial (cropped)2006PPKoreanWarMemorial (cropped)WoodsideHospice2005WoodsideHospiceFLMap-doton-PinellasPark2004FLMap-doton-PinellasParkFL-PCR 694 @ Southbound FL 6932003FL-PCR 694 @ Southbound FL 693FL 686-688 Multiplex; West End2003FL 686-688 Multiplex; West End
Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Drive-in cinema, Route 19
Retake this viewDrive-in cinema, Route 19, 1979

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Pinellas Park’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Pinellas Park, census by census

05,00010,00015,00020,00025,00030,00035,00040,00045,00050,00055,00019201940196019802000202053,093

Grew from 134 people in 1920 to 53,093 in 2020, more than tenfold.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Pinellas Park’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

3 famous people were born in Pinellas Park

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Jesse LitschAmerican baseball player · b. 1985
N
Nick AndriesAmerican open-wheel racing driver · b. 1990
M
Mike CopeAmerican stock car racing driver and team owner · b. 1962
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

West LealmanIts storyDLealmanIts storyC−Largo1 historic placeCBardmoorIts storyDSt. Petersburg32 historic placesB+Kenneth CityIts storyD

Questions about Pinellas Park’s history

What year was Pinellas Park founded?

The Pinellas Park post office opened in 1910, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Pinellas Park rank for history?

Pinellas Park is more historic than 5% of U.S. towns, #555 of 638 in Florida. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

How old are the homes in Pinellas Park?

0.5% of Pinellas Park’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 0.6% for a Florida town; the median home was built in 1978.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

From Wikimedia Commons (17), the Library of Congress (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.