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St. Petersburg (often shortened to St. Pete) is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, US. The city is known as a vacation destination for North US and European vacationers, as well as a politically important battleground in U.S. Presidential politics. As of the 2000 census, the city populus was 248,232. As of 2006, the populus estimate by the U.S. Census Bureau is 248,098 , making it the fourth largest city in the state of Florida and the largest city in Florida that is not a county seat. St. Petersburg is the second largest city in the Tampa–St. Petersburg–Clearwater metropolitan area, which is composed of roughly 2.7 1,000,000 residents in the core, making it the second largest Metropolitan Statistical Area in the state.The city is commonly referred to by locals as "St Pete"; neighboring St. Pete Beach, Florida formally shortened its name in 1994 after a vote by its residents.The city is located on a peninsula between Tampa Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. It is connected to the mainland to the N, connected with the city of Tampa, Florida to the east by causeways and bridges across Tampa Bay, and to Bradenton, Florida in the south by the Sunshine Skyway Bridge (Interstate 275), which traverses the mouth of the bay. It is also served by Interstates 175 and 375, which branch off of 275 into the southern and Nern areas of downtown respectively. The Gandy Bridge, conceived by George Gandy and opened in 1924, is the first causeway to be built across Tampa Bay, connecting St. Petersburg and Tampa cities without a circuitous 43-mile trip around the Bay through Oldsmar.With a purported avg of some 360 days of sunshine each year, it is nicknamed "The Sunshine City." For that reason, the city is a popular tourist, and retirement destination, especially for those in the US from colder Northern weathers particularly New York, Detroit, and Chicago.

It was named after Saint Petersburg, Russia, where Peter Demens had spent half of his youth. A local legend says that John C. Williams and Peter Demens flipped a coin to see who would have the honor of naming the city. Peter Demens won and named the city after his birthplace, while John C. Williams named the first hotel after his birthplace, Detroit. The Detroit Hotel still exists downtown, but has been turned into a condominum. The oldest running hotels are the historic Pier Hotel, built in 1921 and The Heritage Hotel, built in 1926.

Philadelphia publisher F. A. Davis turned on St. Petersburg`s first electrical service in 1897 and its first trolley service in 1904. The city`s first major industry was born in 1899 when Henry W. Hibbs, 1862-1942, a native of Newport, North Carolina, established his wholesale fish business at the end of the railroad pier, which extended out to the shipping channel. Within a year, Hibbs Fish Company was shipping more than a thousand pounds (454 kg) of fish each day.

In 1914, airplane service across Tampa Bay from St. Petersburg to Tampa and back was initiated, generally considered the first commercial airline. The company name was the "St. Petersburg–Tampa Airboat Line" and the pilot was Tony Jannus, flying a Benoist XIV flying boat. The Tony Jannus Award is presented annually for outstanding achievement in the airline industry. Jannus Landing, a local music/entertainment venue on Central Avenue in Downtown, is named after aviation pioneer Tony Jannus.

The city populus continued to multiply during the twentieth century. Booming in the 1940`s and 50`s with the advent of air-conditioning and through the 1970s as the town became a popular retirement destination for USs from midwestern cities, reaching 238,647 in the 1980 census. By the 1980s, however, the populus had levelled off, and has grown by only 10,000 since then, primarily as a result of being "built-out".

As of the census of 2000, there were 248,232 people, 109,663 households, and 61,630 families residing in the city. The populus density was 4,163.1 persons per square mile (1,607.3/km²). There were 124,618 housing units at an avg density of 2,090.0 per square mile (806.9/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 71.36% White, 22.36% African US, 0.31% Native US, 2.67% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 1.07% from other races, and 2.17% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.23% of the populus.