22nd Street South is a Relic of African-American History

SAINT PETERSBURG –The street is quiet. A man sits on a barrel outside of the Lorene's local fish house beckoning any passing traffic to come in for fresh smoked fish. Mom and pop businesses are sporadically scattered in what used to be a bustling downtown area. Today, the handful of shops that line historic 22nd Street South in St. Petersburg do not come close to what used to be one of Florida’ s most famous African American communities.

Back then, business was booming. Famous musicians like Louis Armstrong and James Brown played regularly at the Manhattan Casino. Geech’s BBQ served-up steaming sandwiches to its all-black clientele. At its peak, over 100 businesses thrived, 75 percent being African American owned.

”When I first moved down here, Saint Petersburg was booming,“ said 69-year-resident Carolyn Moody. ”I tell ya, it was wonderful. You could walk from one place to another --  it was all businesses and BBQ stands. Today it’s dying.“

Beneath the area’s bustling faade, origins of bigotry cast a shadow on the town. People of color had been exiled from caucasian-prominent areas, like Gulfport, and forced to congregate in the district that is now referred to as Midtown. Ironically, it was the segregation that sustained the neighborhood for so many years and gave the people a sense of community that would never be forgotten.

Historic train station

The boom can be traced as far back as the 1800’s. In 1889, Africans Americans who helped build the Orange Belt Railway began to settle in an area known as Pepper Town. A few years later, others began to inhabit another nearby district then referred to as Cooper’s Quarters, but was eventually named the Glass Plant district because of the large gas manufactoring plant close by. By 1910, 27 percent of the entire St. Petersburg population was African-American according to census data.

Perhaps it was the quantity of African-Americans that intimidated city politicians and members of powerful organizations like the Ku Klux Klan. The area’s history is saturated with sad stories of injustice toward people of color. From ”whites only“ voting primaries to the bombing of movie theaters to Klan marches down the street, the message that blacks were not equals rang clear through a timeline of violent acts of prejudice.

In 1931, a new charter banned blacks from having a business or home in white areas and also banned whites from doing the same in black neighborhoods. Five years later the city council approved a similar resolution. The new policies only further enhanced the formation of the Midtown district. Blacks often borrowed money from white businessman and opened their own businesses to support their community. Through necessity came success.

Carolyn Moody is pictured in her home in Midtown Photo: Merab Favorit

Carolyn came to the area in 1942. Her sister Bonnie had moved to the region a few years earlier and her stories of prosperity sold her Georgia-born sister Carolyn on the idea of moving. Carolyn jumped at the opportunity. After all, 22nd Street South was gaining acclaim as of the South’s premier African-American downtown developments – St. Petersburg was the place to be. It was like Florida’s own small-scale version of Atlanta's Sweet Auburn and Beale Street in Memphis.

”I came here on a bus. When I got to Gandy Blvd, Saint Petersburg Blvd – I thought this was the most beautiful place I’d ever seen. All I could see was the beautiful lights,“ said Carolyn.

Today Carolyn serves as the primary caretaker of her sister Navola McCloud, 100. Carolyn worked as a housekeeper until she was 80-years-old. She is only capable of doing ”little odd things“ like selling cans for extra cash. Navola keeps busy by crocheting dresses for dolls, sometimes making the doll bodies out of soap bottles and using old socks for their heads and arms. Their small sewn-on faces seem observe every corner of their small living room.

”I don’t sell them, I just like to give them as presents,“ Navola said of her creations.

During their youth, the sisters were very active in the community. Carolyn liked to go fishing near South Mole beach on weekends or moon-lit weeknights; it was the only place where African-Americans could swim. When she wasn’t fishing for dinner she’d get all dolled up for a night at the Manhattan Casino.

”And the Manhattan Casino – I used to go there a lot. They had this singin’ quartet and we loved goin’ there. There was lots of dancin’ and singing“

Manhattan Casino

Everyone loved the Manhattan Casino – which wasn’t a casino but a nightclub and music venue. Some of the top named musicians played the finest 1930s jazz or belted 1960s soul. From Louis Armstrong and BB King to Ray Charles, everyone played at the Manhattan.

The 1950’s marked the start of the Civil Rights Movement. While Rosa Parks was refusing to sit in the back of the bus, other freedom fighters stood up to segregation laws locally. In 1954, a black oral surgeon named Dr. Robert Swain Jr. opened a business outside the city-ordained red line that separated the white and black habitation boundaries.  People of color started peaceful protests for injustice. Sit-ins occurred in restaurants that didn’t allow blacks to eat. Hospitals that didn’t allow blacks were forced to admit them as patients.

It was a time of protest that sometimes instigated violence. It was a trend that was sweeping over the nation. In 1955, Carolyn’s son was killed in a fight in Fort Lauderdale. When he turned around to walk away someone hit him in the back of the head -- shattering the back of his skull.

”Yeah they had riots down there by... marchin’ down there, but I didn’t take a part in it. And I didn’t let my son take a part in it. He was too young to know what was goin' on. You know, they had all these kids with these signs and – they didn’t know what they was doin’. I think they was just doin’ it because the rest of them was doin’ it and I didn’t think it was right.

From 1958-1960, 22nd Street South was in its heyday. There were 111 businesses including doctors, lawyers, restaurants, accountants, etc. Everything a person needed to survive could be acquired within walking distance. But the stronghold that detained the neighborhood for so long was slowly slipping through the cracks. The Civil Rights Movement had brought new hope and African-Americans were no longer bound to reside in an all-black community.

”People were moving out just because they could,“ said Caroline.

Sisters Carolyn Moody and Navola McCloud

In 1974 the face of the community was forever altered when Interstate 275 was constructed. Officials relocated residents from several regions including those that made-up what is now Midtown. In 1984, the two huge cylinders that gave the Gas Plant neighborhood its name were dismantled for the construction of Tropicana Field, further altering the area’s dynamic.

”There was a lot of people living in those areas, there was people livin’ in there and they tore those houses down,“ remembers Carolyn.

It was integration that ultimately ended one of the Country’s most prominent African-American towns. Centuries of desiring equality had brought a community together, but when citizens no longer needed a support system they left their roots to pursue bigger dreams. Only through history can we go back to the days when jazz music emanated from the windows of the Manhattan Casino, when black-owned businesses dominated downtown, and when sidewalks were bustling with successful African-American men and women. It was a place where people were accepted and revered at a time when equal opportunity was still out of reach for so many.  

Sources:
St. Petersburg's Historic African American Neighborhoods by Rosalie Peck and John Wilson
St. Petersburg's Historic 22nd Street South by Rosalie Peck and John Wilson