Tomlinson school building, closed since December , into affordable downtown housing for educators. Petersburg residents as a patron saint for his philanthropy. Born in October , Tomlinson led an adventurous life after leaving the family farm in Seymour, Connecticut.
He traveled throughout America, investing in oil and mineral holdings, and built one of the earliest resort hotels in Aiken, South Carolina. He first visited St. Petersburg in March , less than three years after the Orange Belt Railway reached the then-remote village. His father, Peter, joined him the following year. At a time when St. Petersburg had fewer than 1, residents, Tomlinson invested much of his wealth in the community.
This narrow wooden pier remained an iconic symbol in the growing city until it collapsed during the ferocious October hurricane. For decades, people drank the sulphur water from this fountain before crews later connected it to city utilities. He supported the local student Cadet Corps at the first George Washington birthday celebration in , an event that later transformed into the annual Festival of States parade.
At a time when school resources came mostly from within the community rather than the county or state, Tomlinson provided musical instruments and books for the library at St. Touted as the first manual training school in Florida, boys took classes in military science, industrial arts, and manual training.
Girls began taking classes at this school after February , when it moved into an 80 x foot building known as the Domestic Science and Manual Training School. This structure, located immediately east of city hall at 2nd Ave.
