The Green Bench Era in St. Petersburg

The benches began in 1908 as a realtor's advertising device: the National Register nomination for the Downtown St. Petersburg Historic District says he had St. Petersburg craftsmen make 50 benches, which he painted orange (National Register nomination, Downtown St. Petersburg Historic District).

On each bench a wide board carried his company logo and a slogan. The nomination says he set two of the benches in front of his business, where people would gather to rest their feet and discuss important matters of the day, and that when they asked where he got the benches he offered them free to people who were interested in having one. Other businesses followed, and the nomination says most buildings in the downtown core of St. Petersburg soon had benches out front (NPS nomination).

The same nomination says tourists and winter residents spent about one third of the year in the Sunshine City and created institutions and social networks to sustain their lifestyle there (NPS nomination). The downtown St. Petersburg district it describes is listed by the National Park Service as NRIS 04000364, bounded by 5th Ave. N, Beach Dr. NE, Central Ave. and 9th St. N (NPGallery record).

An ordinance passed by Mayor Al Lang made the St. Petersburg benches green, according to the nomination (NPS nomination).

The nomination says that until 1916 the benches were painted every imaginable color, and that Mayor Al Lang passed an ordinance calling for all existing benches to be painted green and for any new benches placed on city streets to be green (NPS nomination).

The nomination gives the reason in one line: "though the concept was good, there was a need for conformity." It says that as the city grew, it became famous for its hospitality mainly because of the extremely comfortable seating it offered its residents and visitors, and that many postcards featured photos of the city streets crowded with people sitting on green benches. In the 1940s, it adds, Time Magazine had a cover story on St. Petersburg and The City of Green Benches (NPS nomination).

Two State Archives of Florida postcards of St. Petersburg published by Sun News Co., one from 1948 and one from 1956, are catalogued under titles that name the green benches (PC15279, PC12331).

Postcard PC15279, "The Famous Green Benches," was published in St. Petersburg by Sun News Co. in 1948. Its catalog record quotes an accompanying note: "The green bench has become a symbol of the hospitality and friendliness of this city offering the residents and tourists a place to sit, rest, enjoy the weather, make acquaintances, and watch the passers-by." (Florida Memory, PC15279). Postcard PC12331, catalogued as "People using the green benches on Central Ave. in downtown St. Petersburg," was published by Sun News Co. in 1956, and its record lists the businesses shown as Kress, McCrory's, Hotel Alden, Walgreen's and the Rutland Building, known as the Snell Arcade (Florida Memory, PC12331).

The City of St. Petersburg's African American Heritage Trail says the city's race laws "effectively banned African Americans from downtown except when working" (City of St. Petersburg, African American Heritage Trail).

Under the marker titled Crossing the Line, the City of St. Petersburg's text reads: "In 1931, the City Charter established separate residential districts for white and black residents. City Council passed laws separating the use of businesses and facilities according to race. This effectively banned African Americans from downtown except when working." It adds that in the 1950s boundary lines were drawn and redrawn several times, which limited where African Americans could live (City heritage trail).

The same St. Petersburg city page says that during this era African Americans could only swim at the South Mole and in the Jennie Hall Pool after it was constructed in 1954. It says the Jordan Park Housing Complex incorporated 446 apartments when it opened in 1941 and that the all-black complex "also reinforced segregation and the separate but equal construction of facilities" (City heritage trail).

On where the benches stood, the National Register nomination says most buildings in the downtown core of St. Petersburg had benches out front (NPS nomination).

St. Petersburg removed the benches in 1969 in favor of "streamlined" aluminum benches, the National Register nomination says (NPS nomination).

The nomination says attitudes towards the benches changed in the 1960s, when St. Petersburg city officials felt the city was getting a bad image from "the mostly retired folks whiling away their time on the benches." The first idea for change, it says, was to paint the benches pastel colors to make them look more hip; then in 1969 they were removed altogether (NPS nomination).

The city's history page describes downtown in the same decades: the 1950s brought air conditioning, which spurred housing for retirees, Central Plaza and West St. Pete shopping centers began to draw commerce from the downtown core, and streetcar tracks were removed to make way for a society of automobiles (City of St. Petersburg, History of St. Pete). The same page says a South St. Pete neighborhood known as The Deuces developed into a thriving downtown area for African Americans and other minority communities and reached its peak in the 1960s with more than 100 Black-owned or operated businesses, entertainment spots and professional offices (City history page).

Wooden benches modeled on the originals, the Downtown St. Petersburg Historic District and the city's African American Heritage Trail all tie to the era.

The downtown St. Petersburg nomination, which its NPGallery record lists as published 4/30/2004, says that in recent years some wooden benches modeled on the original green benches have been reappearing in the downtown area (NPS nomination). The record gives architecture, community planning and development, commerce, and entertainment/recreation as the district's areas of significance (NPGallery record).

The city's African American Heritage Trail is a self-guided walking tour whose nineteen markers cover more than a dozen city blocks in South St. Pete's downtown area. It is split into two corridors, both beginning at the Carter G. Woodson Museum at 2240 9th Ave. S, and guided tours, walking or by trolley, can be arranged by contacting the African American Heritage Association (City heritage trail).

The Florida Holocaust Museum presented an original exhibition, Beaches, Benches, and Boycotts: The Civil Rights Movement in Tampa Bay, on display from September 7, 2019 through March 1, 2020 (Florida Holocaust Museum event page). The State Archives postcards are viewable online at Florida Memory (PC15279, PC12331). Related reading sits on the St. Petersburg history hub.

Last verified: October 19, 2026, by re-reading the 2004 National Register nomination and NPGallery record for downtown St. Petersburg, the city's African American Heritage Trail and history pages, catalog records for two State Archives postcards, and the museum's 2019 exhibition page.