Publisher's note: This proposal was presented to the Azalea Neighborhood Association in April 2021 by The Friends of Jungle Country Club Creek. The petition was signed by 28 homeowners who live along the creek. The City of St. Petersburg Community Services provided a grant to pay for the creek signs. The unveiling ceremony took place on August 13, 2022. The proposal below describes the history of the Jungle Country Club and of the creek.________________________________________________________________
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Jungle Country Club Creek
For those who live near the creek, it is an important part of their daily lives. It is a neighborhood asset, attracting and supporting a variety of Florida wildlife including egrets, ibises, herons, ospreys, anhingas, storks, peacocks, roseate spoonbills, ducks, turtles, frogs, squirrels, and fish. The creek is bordered by a tree-lined boulevard that gives a visual sense of spaciousness.
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.
The creek is in the Azalea neighborhood and all homes on Farragut Drive are in the Jungle Country Club subdivision.
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| View of creek from its origin near Azalea Elementary School. (Google Earth) |
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Aerial View
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| The creek flows from Azalea Elementary School to the Admiral Farragut Academy Boat Basin in Boca Ciega Bay |
History
The creek was at one time called 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. The golf course was an important part of St. Petersburg’s economy and was highlighted in tourism brochures and advertisements of the period.
The present day neighborhoods of Azalea, Jungle Prada and Jungle Terrace were, in the Roaring Twenties, “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), and a nationally famous golf course. The Azalea residential neighborhood was built over the golf course in the 1950’s. The Jungle Country Club Hotel is now Admiral Farragut Academy.
Celebrities and notables of the era played on the Jungle Country Club golf course. It is famed for being Babe Ruth's favorite winter course ‒ he played over 100 rounds of golf here. Pictures of the greatest celebrity of the era playing golf in St. Petersburg were published in national newspapers, promoting tourism and popularizing the sport of golf.
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| 1930: Babe Ruth with wife Claire near the first tee. Jungle Hotel in background. (Colorized image) |
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The Jungle Country Club Hotel and Golf Course Are In the Azalea Neighborhood
There are no markers to recognize the history that was made here in the Azalea neighborhood during the Roaring Twenties. Few people know that the historic hotel (now Admiral Farragut Academy) is in the Azalea neighborhood.
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Al Lang Was President of the Jungle Country Club for Nearly Its Entire Existence
St. Petersburg’s iconic mayor, Al Lang, was the president of the country club for nearly its entire existence. During these years, Lang lived across the street from the golf course, on Park Street. |
| Babe Ruth, Al Lang, and Yankee manager Miller Huggins on the Jungle Country Club golf course in 1925. They all were familiar with the creek and no doubt lost a few golf balls into it. (Colorized image) |
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Celebrities and Notables Have Crossed the Creek:
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, football coach Pop Warner, defense attorney Clarence Darrow, golf course architect A.W. Tillinghast, cartoonist Billy DeBeck, sportswriter Grantland Rice and many others. |
| St. Petersburg Times Oct 4, 1926 |
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1925 Revised Map of Golf Course and Jungle Subdivision from Pinellas County Plat Book
Today, the creek follows nearly the same path as in 1916. While playing a round of golf on the Jungle Country Club golf course, a player crossed Golf Creek by footbridge seven times. Babe Ruth crossed the creek over 700 times.
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| 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. While playing a round of golf on the Jungle Country Club golf course, a player crossed Golf Creek by footbridge seven times. Babe Ruth crossed the creek over 700 times. |
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Where Was the Jungle Country Club Golf Course?
The map below shows the Jungle Country Club Golf Course layout superimposed on a current street map.
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Azaleaville
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 became public park land. Current maps at the Pinellas County Tax Appraiser’s Office identify the property as “Creek” and “Public Park.” |
| Intersection of the creek and 9th Ave N showing “Creek” and “Public Park” (Pinellas County Tax Viewer). |
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The Farragut Ditch
Currently, the creek has no signage and city workers refer to it as 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.“Jungle Country Club Creek” on maps and signs will promote civic pride and increase public awareness of our neighborhood’s place in Jungle history.
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Wood stork and roseate spoonbill in the creek on May 6,
2021 |
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Creek No. 9
The creek originates near Azalea Elementary and flows to Boca Ciega Bay (Bing maps). On Google maps, the creek is not named. On Bing maps and MapQuest, it is named “Creek No. 9.”
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A Peaceable Kingdom - The Creek at 13th Avenue North
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| Great egret (top), wood stork (left), roseate spoonbill, tricolor heron (bottom, in the grass), wood stork. |
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Additional Information About the Creek
The creek does not appear on the 1882 map of the area (Hillsborough County map).In 1915, the land was reconfigured when a golf course was built. The creek is first mapped on the 1916 Map of the Golf Course and Jungle Subdivision.
The golf course property was sold to Admiral Farragut Academy in 1944 and to residential developers in the 1950’s. The land was again reconfigured and some water features on the golf course were filled, but the path of Golf Creek remains virtually unchanged.
As late as 1964, the creek was referred to as Golf Creek in city contracts and newspaper articles.
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| St. Petersburg Times, Feb 26, 1964. |
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Golf Creek Park
South of the original Golf Creek, another drainage creek has been named Golf Creek. This creek has no water connection to the original Golf Creek. The creek collects water from drainage along 5th Avenue North, then flows out to Boca Ciega Bay.
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Why Neighborhood History is Important
· 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. To 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 played golf on our course 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.
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Why “Jungle Country Club Creek”
The creek was once part of the Jungle Country Club golf course. The homes that overlook the creek are on the tax record as being in the Jungle Country Club subdivision. To add an element of prestige, realtors list neighborhood homes for sale as being in the Jungle Country Club. The name “Jungle Country Club Creek” celebrates the creek’s origin, history, and the glamor and sophistication of the Jungle Country Club in the Roaring Twenties.
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| Great egret in the creek, May 6, 2021 |
