Clearwater Historical Society Expands to South Ward School

This article appeared in The Wise Cracker, the newsletter of the Largo Area Historical Society, and with permission, we share it here.


  "The Clearwater Historical Society (CHS) was founded in 1979 and since 1982 has operated a museum in the vintage 1896 Plumb House on Martin Luther King Blvd. The society and its historic collections have long since outgrown the building.
  "In June of this year, the CHS and Pinellas County School Board entered into a 50 year lease (with a minimum term of 15 years) for the use of South Ward School. Under the terms of the agreement, CHS will maintain and insure the property thereby relieving the School Board of that financial burden.
  "The historical society intends to preserve and adapt the South Ward campus for use as a historical museum as well as provide room for the history of the Pinellas county School System and community meeting space as well. In addition, the Bomber Legacy Project has joined forces with CHS and seeks to preserve the history of the men's fast pitch softball team that put Clearwater on the map.
  "The South Ward campus is home to buildings that are among some of the earliest school facilities in Pinellas County and were in danger of deteriorating."

We add our congratulations to CHS in their effort to preserve a significant part of our heritage, and are pleased to acknowledge them as one of our PGS Organizational Members.