From industry to sidewalks, Durants left mark on city
The Durant family, led by patriarch Charles Durant, stood tall among St. Petersburg's founders.
By SCOTT TAYLOR HARTZELL
Published June 30, 2004
ST. PETERSBURG - "There wasn't much here," pioneer Edward Durant said of the day in 1885 when his family first walked on Pinellas sand. "There were a few shacks, even less in what is now St. Petersburg."
During interviews with the St. Petersburg Times and Evening Independent in 1960, Durant trumpeted his family's efforts to fill that void in the fishing village of Wardsville, which was early St. Petersburg.
Charles Durant was the family patriarch. He planted the first citrus grove here, established the first bakery and was among the town's first philanthropists and elected officials.
Jennie Durant, Edward's mother, beautified Williams Park and helped put in Central Avenue sidewalks.
Edward was among the Times' original workers and later founded the Pinellas Cigar Co.
"(Edward Durant's) memory of bygone days is maybe a little spotty as to dates, but he is informative," the Independent wrote.
On April 7, 1885, the Durants stepped off a 30-foot sailboat onto Big Bayou. Charles Durant, then 43, had left New Castle, Pa., to purchase 3,000 acres of pineland here.
Big Bayou featured John Sloan's dock and store, where grits, potatoes, molasses and white bacon could be had. So could a room.
"We slept the first night upstairs . . . fighting big roaches all night long," said Durant, who was 15 at the time. "Next day we found a little shanty (at Ninth Street and 13th Avenue). The feller who had lived there had gone crazy and left, so we just took it over."
Charles Durant later opened the area's first bakery on Ninth Street. Another half-dozen houses existed and a general store run by E.R. Ward - hence the name Wardsville.
On Dec. 29, 1886, Edward attended south Pinellas' first entertainment. "They used up five gallons of ice cream" at a benefit for St. Bartholomew's Church, he said.
When the Orange Belt Railroad's work train arrived April 1, 1888, Edward was among 30 people there. "The few kids there stood around and when they'd toot the whistle, they'd all run."
He and his brother Fred helped survey the village in 1888, when it became St. Petersburg. "I was pulling one end of the chain," Durant said.
In 1889, Jennie Durant and the Women's Town Improvement Association laid the first board sidewalks on Central Avenue. "(Charles) Durant engaged in the citrus business and was the first to plant a grove," historian Karl H. Grismer wrote.
With the population about 273 in the early 1890s, Charles Durant moved his bakery to Central Avenue and Fourth Street - the historic Durant block. Subsequent tenants were Arthur Norwood's dry goods (1897), Realtor Noel Mitchell's office (1907) and the Snell Arcade (late 1920s).
With the antisaloon faction, Charles Durant received 18 votes on Feb. 29, 1892, and was elected to the first Town Council. He later helped finance the kindergarten department. "Mr. Durant came to the assistance of the city on many occasions," the Times wrote.
About 1894, Edward Durant quit the Times after working a week as a copy setter. "(Boss) told me he couldn't pay me," Durant said. "He still owes me."
For four years beginning in 1895, Edward worked with grocer Ed Lewis. He then learned the cigar business from A. Castillo and, in 1915, established the Pinellas Cigar Co. on Fourth Street S.
"It was a warehouse, a big tin building," said resident Chuck Horton, 76. "You used to see their trucks around all the time."
After dealing his block to Mitchell and then selling insurance, Charles Durant became shareholder and president in 1914 of the St. Petersburg Novelty Works, a company he earlier helped establish. The enterprise was the county's largest.
In 1926, Charles Durant died sleeping in a chair at his 335 Fifth St. N home. He was 83.
His son Edward subsequently relocated the Pinellas Cigar Co. to 661 40th St. S. He later carried additional merchandise including candy. In 1945, he retired.
After 77 years in St. Petersburg, Durant died Dec. 30, 1962. He was 93. "I admired (Durant)," said resident Harry Davis, 84. "He was a good businessman and had good standing in the community. Very civic-minded."
