A History of Civil Rights and Social Change in Pinellas County

Today's social change advocates can learn a great deal from stories about people who have previously stood together to challenge the status quo and fight for equity.

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Memories from the Gas Plant & Laurel Park Neighborhoods

Hundreds of Black families, businesses, churches, and community spaces were displaced or destroyed by the construction of Tropicana Field. Former residents of the Gas Plant and Laurel Park neighborhoods and their descendants share memories of a safe, supportive, and thriving community and the lasting impact of its demolition.

The story of the Gas Plant and Laurel Park neighborhoods is both unique to Pinellas County as well as a history that has been repeated across this country, across generations of Black and Brown communities. If we are to move forward with racial equity, we must know, understand, honor, and be changed by our collective past.

Andrew Walker

Memories of a fun-filled childhood, biking with friends past neighborhood businesses, going to the library, and the magnitude of the looming cylinders after which the neighborhood was named.

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Carlos Lovett

The youngest of eleven children shares memories of the circus train rolling through the neighborhood, visits to Webb City, and what happened after his family was uprooted from their community.

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Francis Morgan Cato

Living in the space now occupied by Tropicana Field was once a close-knit family of neighbors and a community that looked out for each other.

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George Stovall

A young employee of Jackson Ice Company shares his experience delivering ice to the neighborhoods in the Gas Plant area and the relationships he built over time with the families who lived there.

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Jennifer Wallace

The granddaughter of a Gas Plant business owner and a Gibbs High English teacher recounts what visits to her grandparents’ house were like, and how she and her cousins spent their time in the neighborhood.

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Joe Sherot

A former resident of the Laurel Park neighborhood recalls growing up and feeling taken care of in a tight-knit community that looked out for one another.

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Reuben Cavenmays

A local professor shares his memories of his move from Methodist Town to Laurel Park, the impact that had on him and his three siblings, and how his single mother inspired her children to achieve more.

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Russell Cato

Reflections on notable figures from the Gas Plant neighborhood, and how the destruction of property resulted in the destruction of culture and community for many who called this neighborhood their own.

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Sheron Potts

A daughter recalls her parent’s efforts to build and sustain their community in the Gas Plant neighborhood and the culture of security and support they built through Potts Recreation Center.

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Stephanie Perry, Shirley Smith-Hayes

Stories of what life was like in the Gas Plant and Laurel Park neighborhoods paint a picture of community care, accessible housing, and support that was irrevocably disrupted by widespread displacement.

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Taffy Macon

The granddaughter of the last resident to vacate the Gas Plant neighborhood to make way for the construction of Tropicana Field shares the sentimentality behind leaving a family home that housed generations.

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William Walker, Charles McNorton

The great-grandson of the founder of the first Black-owned drugstore in St. Pete talks about his dad’s stories of growing up in the Gas Plant neighborhood and the price of progress in the city.

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Yamisha Fuller, Brenda Hanes, Shirley Dee

Former residents of Laurel Park share memories of spending late nights with their neighbors, a community of love and fun that functioned as a family, and the place where they made life-long friends.

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