A Historic Bike Ride: The Pinellas Trail is the Old Orange Belt Railway

If you do any riding on the Pinellas Trail, you are more than likely riding on the remnants of the Orange Belt Railway.  Much of the Pinellas Trail was built over the railway. 

Not many people heard of the Orange Belt Railway.  It had many names over the  years and changed hands many times. 

The railway ran from St. Petersburg through Pinellas to Tarpon Springs where it veered east and continued to run to Sanford.  St. Petersburg was technically the terminal end of the railway. Other connections into this railway broadened trade for Pinellas County.

St. Petersburg’s railway was completed by May 1, 1888.  Locomotives for passengers and the citrus industry ran along this route bringing people and commerce opportunities for many.  This railway is credited with bringing people to Pinellas to visit and live. 

A man most credited for bringing the railroad to Pinellas was a man named Petrovitch A. Demensheff who was born in Petrograd, Russia in 1850 and immigrated to the United States in 1880.  He took over the Orange Belt Railway when there were apparent problems paying for the work.  He partnered with investors to expand the railway where he was able to “name” St. Petersburg as a tribute to the city of his youth.  He was not able to hold on to the railway and was forced into a buyout in 1889.  Only about a third of the railway was profitable which was the line from St. Petersburg to Lachoochee. Demensheff moved away from the area, eventually setting in Los Angeles, California.

The railway had a rocky history, ending up in receivership in 1893.  Unfortunately, the Great Freeze in 1895 killed most of the citrus trees which seriously affected the citrus trade in Pinellas County, thereby affecting the freight operations. The then owners sold the railway to the Plant System of Railroads. 

The next time you are riding on the Pinellas Trail, think about how there was a time where citrus and vegetables were packed into freight trains from the area and shipped out to other parts of the country.  Think about the booming citrus industry that was a major part of Pinellas County for many years.  Think about passengers getting off at the Sutherland (Palm Harbor) station or the Ozona station to dream about creating a future in Pinellas or simply to vacation.  There was a time when locomotives ran right through our area.  You might even imagine the haunting sounds of a locomotive, chugging along, bringing with it prosperity and eventually the future of Pinellas.

Did you know that the Largo area was once called Armour and had its own station on the Orange Belt Railroad?