Frank Allston Davis (September 8, 1850Hartzell, p. 51. – January 2, 1917Hartzell, p. 55) was a publishing executive who founded the F. A. Davis Company in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. After moving to the

Tampa Bay Area The Tampa Bay area is a major populated area surrounding Tampa Bay on the west coast of Florida in the United States. It includes the main cities of Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Clearwater. It is the 18th largest metropolitan area in the Unite ...

, he introduced electricity to St. Petersburg, Florida, and founded the city of Pinellas Park.

Early life

Davis was born in

Duxbury, Vermont Duxbury () is a town in Washington County, Vermont, United States. The population was 1,413 at the 2020 census. It claims to be the only municipality in the United States that has an elected position of dogcatcher. History In 1880, Emeline Meak ...

, and, as a child, worked as a

groundskeeper Groundskeeping is the activity of tending an area of land for aesthetic or functional purposes, typically in an institutional setting. It includes mowing grass, trimming hedges, pulling weeds, planting flowers, etc. The U.S. Department of Labor e ...

and attended school. His mother died in 1861, after which he lived with Samuel Cook Turner. He worked as a lawnmower salesman in Asbury Park, New Jersey, during the summer of 1870.The History of F. A. Davis
from the F. A. Davis Company web site. By 1872, he earned $30 per month as a teacher.Hartzell, pp. 51-52. Davis relocated to Philadelphia and worked as an agent for several publishing firms. He married Lizzie Fritz and their son, Alonzo, was born in 1873.Hartzell, p. 52. In 1879, he was working as an agent for the largest medical publisher in the world, William Wood and Company when he formed his own publishing company, F. A. Davis Company. Similar to William Wood, Davis's company specialized in publishing medical material including medical studies. Davis's first wife died in the 1880s.

Florida

On April 29, 1885, Davis attended an

American Medical Association The American Medical Association (AMA) is a professional association and lobbying group of physicians and medical students. Founded in 1847, it is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Membership was approximately 240,000 in 2016. The AMA's sta ...

meeting which included a study about the benefits of the Pinellas peninsula. Davis eventually published the study and, in 1889, he travelled to

Tarpon Springs, Florida Tarpon Springs is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. The population was 23,484 at the 2010 census. Tarpon Springs has the highest percentage of Greek Americans of any city in the US. Downtown Tarpon Springs has long been a focal po ...

. He felt improvement in his muscular rheumatism and advertised for Florida in one of his medical journals. In Tarpon Springs he met Jacob Disston, the brother of Florida land baron

Hamilton Disston Hamilton Disston (August 23, 1844 – April 30, 1896)"He Died Without Warning", ''The Washington Post'' (May 1, 1896). was an industrialist and real-estate developer who purchased 4 million acres (16,000 km²) of Florida land in 1881, an are ...

. Davis and Disston combined to bring electricity to Tarpon Springs in 1895.Hartzell, p. 53. In the same year, Davis married Elizabeth Irene Craven. Electricity had little impact on Tarpon Springs, so Davis received an electricity

franchise Franchise may refer to: Business and law * Franchising, a business method that involves licensing of trademarks and methods of doing business to franchisees * Franchise, a privilege to operate a type of business such as a cable television p ...

from St. Petersburg on February 2, 1897, and moved his plant there. St. Petersburg's first wood-powered electrical service was initiated on August 5, 1897. On February 4, 1902, Davis was granted a trolley franchise by St. Petersburg. He paid for trolley construction with funding from Jacob Disston and others, and by purchasing and re-selling the city's phone system. Trolley construction began on May 30, 1904, and operation began four months later. In 1905, he expanded the trolley system to

Disston City Gulfport is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States, bordering St. Petersburg, South Pasadena, and Boca Ciega Bay. The population of Gulfport was 12,029 at the 2010 census. Gulfport is part of the Tampa–St. Petersburg–Clearwater me ...

. Through his publishing company, Davis promoted the area with ''Florida'' magazine in 1905 and two books in 1906. Continuing to expand his influence in St. Petersburg, Davis tore down the Brantley Pier and built the Electric Pier in 1906.Hartzell, p. 54.History
from The Pier web site. He paid $80,000 for a 500-passenger steamboat named ''Favorite'' which first arrived on October 17, 1906, and was a popular attraction at the Electric Pier. Davis's progress – and St. Petersburg's in general – was hampered when Tampa tycoon Henry B. Plant purchased the city's lifeline, the Orange Belt Railroad, in 1906. Davis was dealt another blow by the banking panic of 1907. Two years later, he shifted control of much of his St. Petersburg holdings to his occasional rival, H. Walter Fuller. After a conflict over St. Petersburg waterfront area, Davis purchased of Hamilton Disston's land around 1911 and established the city of Pinellas Park. Davis, his son, and P. J. McDevitt advertised the new city, drawing people from Pennsylvania and Ohio. McDevitt became the city's first mayor. Davis sold a free lot in Pinellas Park for every ten-acre farm purchased, resulting in 111 farm sales from 1910 to 1912. Lack of drainage in Pinellas Park caused problems in August 1915, when of rain fell. Davis died in Philadelphia from heart failure, reportedly due to

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and concern over his estate. Jacob Disston closed out Davis's remaining holdings in Florida while his wife, Elizabeth, remained involved with F. A. Davis Company until her death in 1964.

Early life

Florida

Notes

References

Further reading