Leland U. Johnson, motel owner, former mayor

ST. PETE BEACH -- Leland U. Johnson, a former mayor of Belle Vista Beach, now a St. Pete Beach neighborhood, died Tuesday (Feb. 26, 2002) at College Harbor Retirement Center. He was 90.

Mr. Johnson, a longtime owner of the Capri Motel and Apartments in St. Pete Beach, came here from Indianapolis in 1949, the year Belle Vista Beach came into being. Seven years later, he became Belle Vista's mayor.

In 1957, with Mr. Johnson among those seeking consolidation, St. Petersburg Beach by legislative act stood to become a new city, if voters approved its merger with Belle Vista Beach, Pass-A-Grille and Don CeSar Place. He would be an interim commissioner of the new city.

"Emotions ran close to the surface," Frank T. Hurley Jr. wrote in Surf, Sand, & Post Card Sunsets, a history of beach communities. "Two days before the referendum, pro-consolidationists formed a motorcade of 50 cars and drove into trouble in "old' St. Petersburg Beach, where merger opposition was strong."

Police said the procession lacked a permit and refused to allow it to continue.

On election eve, Hurley recalled, "Leland Johnson thought he could sniff victory. "In the past two weeks, the trend makes it appear the act will pass,' " Hurley said Mr. Johnson predicted. " "If we have a big turnout, I think the act will carry.' "

The vote was 758-753 for consolidation.

The new city kept the name St. Petersburg Beach until 1994 when voters shortened it to St. Pete Beach.

Mr. Johnson was born in Healdsburg, Calif., and was an Army veteran of World War II.

He was a member of Pass-A-Grille Beach Community Church and a Masonic Lodge in Indianapolis.

His wife of 65 years, Ruth S. Johnson, died Nov. 30, 2000. Survivors include a nephew, David Knight, Chicago; and a niece, Pat Crawford, Bradenton.

A service will be at 1 p.m. Friday at Blount, Curry & Roel Funeral Homes & Cemeteries, Beach Memorial Chapel, 301 Corey Ave., St. Pete Beach. Burial will be at Woodlawn Memory Gardens, St. Petersburg.

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