In 1881, the Tsar of Russia, Alexander II, was assassinated and replaced by his son Alexander III. Russia had been in the throes of peasant rebellions for years, and underground revolutionary organizations led by university students had been targeting the autocratic regime.
When Alexander III took over, he decided that the only way he could safeguard his rule was with more repression, and he began mass arrests and armed attacks against protesters. In response, a liberal-minded ex-Army Captain named Pytor A. Dementyev left Russia, crossed Europe, and boarded a ship to the United States. Along the way, he taught himself a bit of English from a book, and by the time he arrived in New York in April 1881, he had changed his name to Peter Demens. Upon arriving, he told American immigration authorities that he was fleeing political persecution in Russia—but there are some Russian records indicating that Demens may also have been involved in an embezzlement scheme that went bad.
In any case, Demens spent just one day in New York before boarding a train to Jacksonville FL. Here, he attempted to set up an orange grove, but found the land too expensive. So he moved further south to the town of Longwood, just north of present-day Orlando. There he and a partner founded a sawmill and won the contract to build stations for the Central Florida Railroad, and that led to another job of making railroad ties for the Orange Belt Railway, which ran over to Tampa Bay. When the Orange Belt ran into financial trouble and was unable to pay Demens for his work, he was awarded a controlling share in the company instead.
Demens extended the railroad from Tampa across the bay and to the Gulf of Mexico, where he built a pier at a spot that became known as Demens Landing. This allowed ships to deliver their loads without having to enter Tampa Bay, and in 1888 a new town sprouted up next to the pier. Demens decided to name it “St Petersburg” after his Russian homeland, and built the first hotel there, called “The Detroit”. Today he is credited as the Father of St Pete.
But Demens didn’t stay long in the city he had founded. In 1889 he sold the railroad and moved to North Carolina, then California. He died there in 1919.
Today, the original location of Demens’ railroad pier is designated as a National Historic Landmark and is commemorated by Demens Landing Park. There are several memorial and historical plaques here.
Some photos from a visit.
Historical marker
The park
Demens memorial
St Pete Police Memorial
Overlooking the City Marina
Demens Landing was right around here
Egret hunting along shore
Marine amphipod on the rocks
Needlefish
Brown Pelican
Double-Crested Cormorant
Loggerhead Shrike
Fish Crow successfully begs for part of my lunch
A flock of Nanday Parakeets goes screeching by
