Sam Johnson Sr. quelled the threats, then continued to leave his mark on St. Petersburg as a three-term mayor.
By SCOTT TAYLOR HARTZELL
Published October 13, 2004
ST. PETERSBURG - For a dozen years, from 1945 to 1957, the city and Sam Johnson Sr. were inseparable.
"In the memory of more than half the residents of St. Petersburg, there was never a time when City Hall and Sam Johnson were not interrelated," the St. Petersburg Times wrote.
In the late 1940s, Vice Mayor Johnson undermined a menacing underworld plot. As mayor, he answered the 1951 sanitation strike by personally gathering refuse.
Johnson promoted the construction of a police headquarters and a new Mound Park Hospital. He founded the Suncoast League of Municipalities, oversaw the completion of U.S. 19 through the city and advanced transportation with buses. Sewers were installed citywide.
Residents responded by electing Johnson mayor three times - a first.
"He didn't attempt to drive the wagon," said Charles Kaniss, council member from 1951 to 1955. "He just got on board."
Samuel Gideon Johnson was born June 11, 1896, in Chattanooga, Tenn. "I moved from Chattanooga to St. Petersburg with widowed mother and brother (in) 1909," Johnson once wrote. "City Board of Trade claimed 3,500 population."
In 1915, Johnson graduated from St. Petersburg High School as class president.
After a year at the University of Florida, Johnson attended officer's training school and served as a second lieutenant until 1919. He then completed another year at the university before managing property investments.
Johnson married Esther Dulin in 1921. The couple would have two children.
In 1939 Johnson founded and presided over the St. Petersburg Propeller Club, which supported waterfront development and helped the city become a port of entry.
Johnson accepted an invitation at age 49 to become a council member in 1945. "Was duly elected to a full term in May 1947," said Johnson, a tall, thin man with dark, curly hair and a gentlemanly manner. About then Johnson founded the Gulfcoast Natural Gas Co., which served St. Petersburg's beach communities.
In 1948, the Times reported that Vice Mayor Johnson "blew the roof off City Hall" by exposing underworld attempts to bully the council and City Manager Carleton F. Sharpe. "(The underworld) found me to be a stubborn man," said Johnson, who was also menaced. "This threat is over."
After being elected mayor in 1951, Johnson answered a citywide sanitation strike by making rounds in a sanitation truck. "He walked behind the truck, too, picking up garbage," Kaniss said.
The strike ended two days later. "That was when mayors didn't get paid," said Barbara Johnson, 69, the mayor's daughter-in-law.
By 1952 Johnson was president of the Florida League of Municipalities and had founded the Suncoast League of Municipalities, which solved population and traffic problems. With 82 others, he had founded St. Thomas' Episcopal Church.
Johnson helped plan the Sunshine Skyway's construction, and on Labor Day 1954, he sliced the ribbon at the structure's opening. "Most satisfying," he said then.
More than a dozen civic organizations trumpeted Johnson as their leader or member. Numerous honors were bestowed upon him, including Outstanding Citizen (1954) and Mr. Sun (1956). "People thought of him as Mayor Sam," Barbara Johnson said.
Johnson tallied 9,661 votes against Johnny Burroughs' 13,655 in the 1957 mayoral race, ending Johnson's record-setting three terms. "(Three terms) speaks well for Johnson as an individual," said Kaniss, 86.
Mayor Herman W. Goldner repeated Johnson's feat from 1961 to 1967.
In 1957, Johnson's name was added to a plaque donated by Dixie Hollins that listed St. Petersburg's mayors. "May your name on this plaque ever stand out," Hollins said.
Johnson became an agent of the New York Life Insurance Co. in 1958.
After he failed to secure federal aid for his Gulfcoast Natural Gas Co. in 1963, Johnson said, "There's now no prospect of us being in business." One year later, he and former Mayor Edward Brantley managed Pinellas County's campaign for Gov. Haydon Burns.
On March 17, 1971, Johnson died of cancer at Bayfront Medical Center. He was 74. A magnolia tree was planted two months later in Johnson's memory at Flora Wylie Park.
"A very nice gesture," Barbara Johnson said. "We did miss him."
