Abe Pheil - Leap of Faith into the Air

This gentleman, former St. Pete Mayor and first commercial airline passenger in history, got a little write up in the blog about our cemetery, where he's laid to rest, but after a visit to the St. Petersburg Museum of History, I'm really feeling like he needs his whole own post!

Here's some photos of info about him from the

St. Petersburg museum of History

The man worked at a saw mill and saved up and bought and sold properties until he could Buy the Saw Mill! He built a hotel and a Theater! And then as mayor he brought utilities under public control!

When the hotel was built, it was the tallest building in St. Petersburg. Unfortunately because of an embargo on construction during WWI, Pheil never got to see it completed. He died two years before the October 31, 1924 Grand Opening. The hotel was demolished, despite public outcry, in 2016. Read about more important downtown landmarks that were destroyed, and help Preserve the 'Burg

First Commercial Airline Passenger

Wrap your head around that. Ok, so some people were really into this new technology and worked with it, and became pilots and engineers. But here's our town's Mayor, taking a leap of faith, and putting his money down ($400) outbidding everyone, to ride in a plane across the bay to Tampa. I think that was incredibly brave.

At that time $400 was equivalent to $10,000.

He also helped organize the city's first brass band! He was the tuba player! (here's a photo of a band, not his band)

Before he organized to build the Gas Plant, people in town were still cooking over wood fires. The town council really wanted to bring in a private provider, and his opinions about public utilities were in the extreme minority. He had the government disbanded, changed format, and reelected, and finally the public had a voice in the matter, and a public gas plant was built to serve the people. Here's a great article about Abe Pheil from the Northeast Journal

Pass by his grave sometime and pay greatly earned respects.