In 1763, England took control of the Florida territory and ended the ban on non-Roman Catholic settlement. In the following decades, Florida’s Jewish population expanded, albeit very slowly. By 1820, only about 30 to 40 Jewish people lived in Florida. In 1845, when Florida achieved statehood, there were fewer than 100 Jewish people out of a population of 66,500. By 1928, however, that number had jumped to 10,000 as Jewish peoples found ways in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to establish tight-knit communities within predominantly Christian regions.
Establishing Early Foundations in Tampa Bay
In 1842, the Seminole peoples relocated to a reservation in southwest Florida at the conclusion of the Second Seminole War. That same year, the U.S. government began to offer land incentives to bring in white settlement. Tampa’s first Jewish settlers arrived during this transitional period. They were followed by a steady stream of new arrivals, and by the 1890s, these early families had grown into a thriving community made up of mostly merchants and restaurateurs.
St. Petersburg was a different story. Its isolated and limited population (300 people in the 1890s) offered little incentive for Tampa merchants to relocate. Not until after 1900, when St. Petersburg could boast 1,500 residents, did the town have its first documented Jewish settler: Henry Schutz.
St Pete’s First Jewish Family
Born in Germany, Schutz immigrated to the United States in approximately 1883. After honing his business skills in Savannah, Ga., he moved to St. Pete in 1901, where he opened a dry-goods store on Central Avenue. By all accounts, he was well-liked and successful, even as antisemitism affected other Florida Jewish communities. For example, in 1910, when Schutz returned to town as a married man, the St. Petersburg Times ran a lengthy article describing the ceremony and the bride’s “light blue taffeta gown.” The paper also noted, “When Mr. Henry Schutz, one of our popular merchants, left this town a few weeks ago on a trip north, none of our citizens suspected that he was intending to marry while away. He returned home Monday night accompanied by his bride of a few days, formerly Miss Emma Fleischman of Baltimore. Mrs. Schutz, who is a strikingly handsome brunette, came from Germany just eighteen months ago.”
Even during the height of pronounced World War I-era anti-German sentiment, Schutz’s store remained popular, no doubt helped by his public displays of patriotism. “Henry Schutz gave his window to the Liberty Loan cause,” the Times noted. “A miniature Statue of Liberty, together with a collection of posters and flags, drew particular attention to this patriotic appeal.” Still popular, Schutz sold his Central Avenue dry-goods store to the Woolworth company in 1929 with a plan for a new venture. He died before he could launch it, but in 1930 his widow joined her niece as proprietors of Schutz, Inc. offering “Clothes of Character for Women.”
The Community Slowly Grows Amidst Struggles to Keep Their Identity
As Henry and Emma Schutz established roots, other Jewish families eventually joined them and established themselves as insurance agents and locksmiths as well as purveyors of gas, clothing, and dry goods. Olga and Leon Manket were the first of these new arrivals. Emigrating from Poland to New York City in 1907, they relocated to St. Pete in 1908. College-educated and a working pharmacist in Poland, Olga Manket never obtained her license in the United States. Instead, the couple opened a dry-goods store on Central Avenue. In 1914, their daughter, Anne, became the first Jewish child born in Pinellas County. As Jewish families expanded, the struggles to keep their identity intensified. Most of the children attended the local public school, where Christian prayers were common. With no kosher vendors in St. Pete and no bridge between Tampa and St. Pete, getting kosher food also was difficult. Tampa was the site of the closest chartered congregation, consecrated cemetery, and educational facilities. The families made do the best they could. They organized a part-time religious school, arranged for a rabbi to travel by boat to teach their children and hold prayer services, and traveled to Tampa for High Holidays. By 1923, the community had grown to 12 families, who chartered their own congregation, B’nai Israel, further cementing their commitment to the community.
A Rise in Antisemitism
The 1920s brought other exciting developments to St. Pete including a land boom, expanding city borders, and an exploding population. The town was not immune to a particularly ugly and expanding brand of so-called national “patriotism” that demanded an all-white, nativeborn Christian America. This attitude contributed to rising antisemitism nationally and locally. For example, the secretary of St. Pete’s Chamber of Commerce publicly called for a “one hundred percent American and gentile city.” Property deeds included restrictive covenants that stated they were “not to be sold to Jews.” Many of the area’s hotels and clubs instituted policies to ban Jewish people, and it was common to see signs at resorts and restaurants reading “Gentiles Only.” A series of signs along Gandy Boulevard and 4th Street North delivered this blunt message: “No Jews Wanted Here.” Despite the challenges of the times, however, most of St. Petersburg’s first Jewish families chose to stay. Their presence provided a strong foundation for future generations and newly arriving immigrants.
Sources include Herman Koren’s Histories of the Jewish People of Pinellas County, Ray Arsenault’s St. Petersburg and the Florida Dream, and information compiled by the Florida Jewish Heritage Trail and the Institute of Southern Jewish Life.
