junglev20

Jungle Country Club Creek proposal sponsored by Friends of the Creek

Hello Neighbors and Friends of the Creek, We are starting a petition to give the creek on Farragut Drive an official name – Jungle Country Club Creek. If there is enough interest, the results will be presented to the St. Petersburg City Council. We would like to get close to 100% approval from the owners of homes overlooking the creek so that we can present the strongest possible case. Please review this information and return the petition in the enclosed envelope. The results will be posted to the neighborhood history website: www.junglecountryclubhistoryproject.blogspot.com Respecting your privacy, no names or addresses will be posted online, only the results. Thank you, Friends of the Creek c/o Steve and Amy Elftmann, 1401 Farragut Drive N, St. Petersburg, FL 33710 [email protected] Why Jungle Country Club Creek? The creek was once part of the Jungle Country Club golf course. It flows past the former Jungle Country Club Hotel. Homes that overlook the creek are in the Jungle Country Club subdivision. Real estate listings in the Azalea neighborhood emphasize the Jungle Country Club location in recognition of the history and reputation of the Jungle neighborhoods. A home overlooking Jungle Country Club Creek is more desirable than a home on an unnamed ditch. The name “Jungle Country Club Creek” celebrates the creek’s origin and history – and the glamor and sophistication of the Jungle Country Club in the Roaring Twenties. All photos on this page were taken of our friends in the creek. Front: Photos of wildlife in the creek on Farragut Drive. Back: Friends of the Creek, past and present – Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, Jimmie Foxx, Great Egret, Gene Sarazen, Walter Hagen, Babe Ruth, Roseate Spoonbill, Turtle.

For those of us who live near the creek, it is an important part of our lives. It is a neighborhood asset, attracting and supporting a variety of wildlife including egrets, ibises, herons, anhingas, ospreys, storks, peacocks, roseate spoonbills, cormorants, ducks, turtles, squirrels, and fish. The creek is .8 miles long and is regularly maintained by the City of St. Petersburg. Water quality is monitored and a baffle box is installed to remove trash, phosphorus and nitrogen. It is bordered by a tree-lined boulevard that gives a visual sense of spaciousness. At one time, the creek was named Golf Creek. It was a scenic water feature ‒ and hazard ‒ on the Jungle Country Club golf course (1916-1944) in the Jungle area of west St. Petersburg. All homes along the creek are in the Jungle Country Club subdivision. View of creek facing south from near its origin at Azalea Elementary School. (Google Earth) Who are the Friends of the Creek?  We are neighbors who love our creek and care about its history and future.  There are no membership fees. Donations are not accepted.  Anyone who wishes can be a member – you may already be a Friend of the Creek.

In the Roaring Twenties, the present day neighborhoods of Azalea, Jungle Prada and Jungle Terrace were “The Jungle,” a premier golf course community with brick-paved streets, Mediterranean style homes, a grand luxury hotel, the Jungle Prada building (home of the Gangplank speakeasy), an airport and a nationally famous golf course. The golf course was an important part of St. Petersburg’s economy and was highlighted in tourism brochures and advertisements. Celebrities and notables of the era played on the Jungle Country Pictured: 1930, Babe Ruth with wife Claire Club golf course. It is famed for being Babe Ruth's favorite winter near the first tee. The Jungle Country Club course ‒ he played over 100 rounds of golf here. Pictures of the Hotel is in the background. (Colorized) greatest celebrity of the era playing golf in St. Petersburg were published in national newspapers, promoting tourism and popularizing the sport of golf. The Azalea residential neighborhood was built over the golf course in the 1950’s.

Few people know that the historic Jungle Country Club Hotel (now Admiral Farragut Academy) is in the Azalea neighborhood and not in the Jungle Prada neighborhood. There are no markers or signs to acknowledge the history that was made in our neighborhood during the Roaring Twenties. The name “Jungle Country Club Creek” will give recognition to our neighborhood’s history. Jungle Hotel and Country Club. Famed as a Tourist Winter Resort Hotel Keystone Stereograph (credit: Library of Congress) Hall of Fame golfers Walter Hagen and Gene Sarazen, Hall of Fame baseball players Babe Ruth and Jimmie Foxx, Yankee manager Miller Huggins, St. Petersburg mayor Al Lang, H. Walter Fuller, Walter P. Fuller, baseball commissioner Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, defense attorney Clarence Darrow, golf course architect A.W. Tillinghast, cartoonist Billy DeBeck, sportswriter Grantland Rice and many others have crossed the creek. While playing a round of golf on the Jungle Country Club golf course, a player crossed the creek by footbridge seven times. Babe Ruth crossed the creek over 700 times. A PGA event was held on the course in 1930. Pictured: Walter Hagen, the greatest professional golfer of his era, lived at 320 Park Street South, about a mile from the Jungle golf course. He holds the course record of 64.

The beloved mayor of St. Petersburg is best known for bringing spring training baseball to Florida and for his successful efforts to beautify the city. He was also active in promoting St. Petersburg as a sportsman’s paradise. During these years, Lang lived across the street from the golf course, on Park Street. Pictured: Babe Ruth, Al Lang, and Yankee manager Miller Huggins on the Jungle Country Club golf course in 1925. All of them were familiar with the creek and no doubt lost a few golf balls into it. (Colorized) The Jungle neighborhoods – Azalea, Jungle Prada, and Jungle Terrace – have an extraordinary history.  Tocobaga natives lived responsibly and cared for the Jungle from around 1100 AD until 1700 AD. There is a nearly pristine midden mound on private property at 1620 Park Street North.  In 1528, a Spanish expedition led by Pánfilo de Narváez landed at the Jungle Prada site. The conquistadors marched across current day Azalea Park and Tyrone Square Mall on their way to Tampa Bay. Four members of the Narváez expedition traveled west across North America to become the first Europeans to explore the continent's interior.  St. Petersburg’s first airport, speakeasy, and radio station were in the Jungle.  In the late 1920’s wild monkeys lived in the Jungle, escapees from Monkey Island in Pasadena.  Mobsters from Al Capone's Chicago Outfit were guests at the Jungle Country Club Hotel in 1926 while attempting to set up a gambling operation outside the three mile limit in the Gulf of Mexico.  The legendary Orange Blossom Special train passed through the Jungle on its daily west coast run.  In 1943, the Jungle golf course and Piper-Fuller Airfield were transformed into a tent city where 10,000 army recruits received basic training for World War II.  The Jungle Country Club Hotel was sold to Admiral Farragut Academy in 1944. Two of the twelve men who have walked on the moon are graduates of Admiral Farragut Academy. Famed musician Stephen Stills learned to play guitar while a student there. The school is one of only two locations in Florida where a moon rock is on display.

Golf Creek flows to the Jungle \"Yacht Basin.\" The words “Golf Creek” are written on the map along the side of the creek. Today, the creek follows nearly the same path. Signatures of H. Walter Fuller and Al Lang are in lower left corner. GOLF CREEK

Pictured: The proposed plan for the Jungle Country Club addition included a lake (Loch Lomond) where Azalea Elementary School is now located. (St. Petersburg Times, September 24, 1949). The residential neighborhood Azaleaville was built over the golf course in the 1950’s and the creek is the only portion of the celebrated Jungle Country Club golf course that is public park land. Current maps at the City of St. Petersburg website identify the property as “Creek” and “Public Park.” Intersection of the creek and 9th Avenue North

Currently, the creek has no signage. City workers call it the Farragut ditch, a humble name for a creek that is teeming with wildlife and is rich in history. A renamed “Jungle Country Club Creek” will showcase this unheralded landmark and draw attention to neighborhood history. On Google maps, the creek is not named. On TomTom, Bing maps and MapQuest, it is named “Creek No. 9.” The creek originates north of Azalea Elementary School and flows to Boca Ciega Bay. “Jungle Country Club Creek” on maps and signs will promote civic pride and increase public awareness of our neighborhood’s place in Jungle history.

 Homeowners care about their neighborhood’s reputation.  Neighborhood reputations shape sentiments about neighborhood quality.  History gives a neighborhood identity and stability.  A neighborhood’s history can improve its reputation and instill pride. The Jungle Prada neighborhood erected markers that emphasize Jungle history, borrowing a logo from the Jungle Country Club Hotel crest and designed to resemble trolley stops or tile-roofed homes of the era. The markers remind us of the neighborhood’s history, reputation and stability. They demonstrate pride in the neighborhood. The Azalea neighborhood does not have any historic markers or signs. To residents and visitors, it looks as if the Jungle starts and ends in the Jungle Prada neighborhood. The hotel and golf course were right here in Azalea and many of the greatest celebrities of the Roaring Twenties walked across our lawns and vacationed in our historic hotel (yes, contrary to popular belief, the Jungle Country Club Hotel, now Admiral Farragut Academy, is in the Azalea neighborhood – not in the Jungle Prada neighborhood). “Jungle Country Club Creek” will be a reminder to those who pass by or see it written on a map that our neighborhood played an important role in Jungle history. Golf Creek, the original name, is now the name of another creek in St. Petersburg. The creek was once part of the Jungle Country Club golf course and it flows past the former Jungle Country Club Hotel. The homes that overlook the creek are in the Jungle Country Club subdivision. Real estate listings in the Azalea neighborhood emphasize the Jungle Country Club location in recognition of the history and reputation of the Jungle neighborhoods. A home overlooking Jungle Country Club Creek is more desirable than a home on an unnamed ditch. The name “Jungle Country Club Creek” celebrates the creek’s origin and history – and the glamor and sophistication of the Jungle Country Club in the Roaring Twenties. For more information about Jungle history visit www.junglecountryclubhistoryproject.blogspot.com