Florida Memory is administered by the Florida Department of State, Division of Library and Information Services, Bureau of Archives and Records Management. The digitized records on Florida Memory come from the collections of the State Archives of Florida and the special collections of the State Library of Florida.
State Archives of Florida
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State Library of Florida
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Image Number
Photographer
Date
Collection
Series/Collection number: S 1047, Publicity photographs, 1940-1996 ; Box 2, FF20
Geographic Term
Subject Term
Trees and plants
Service industries--Florida--Pinellas County--Saint Petersburg
Ecotourism--Florida--Pinellas County--Saint Petersburg
Attractions--Florida--Pinellas County--Saint Petersburg
Botanical gardens--Florida--Pinellas County--Saint Petersburg
Plants
Leaves
Araceae
Caladium
Spathiflorae
Physical Description
General Note
The Gardens began in 1903, when plumber and avid gardener George Turner Sr. purchased the six acres that would become a world famous botanical attraction. He drained a shallow lake 10 feet (3.0 m) below sea level to create his "sunken" garden. By the 1920s, Turner was charging a nickel for tours of the gardens. The Gardens eventually became widely popular, and from the 1950s through the 1970s were ranked among Florida's top ten commercial attractions. The City of St. Petersburg purchased Sunken Gardens in 1999 with funds from a voter-approved tax. The Gardens included the Sanitary Public Market. Designed by architect Albert Lee Hawes and constructed in 1926 it became the Coca Cola Bottling Company plant in the 1940s. The Turner family purchased the building in 1967 to create the World's Largest Gift Shop and the King of Kings Wax Museum. It was closed in 1995 and after restoration by the City of St. Petersburg was added to the National Register of Historic Places in on June 27, 2002.
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Chicago Manual of Style
Florida. - Division of Tourism. Caladium at the Sunken Gardens attraction in Saint Petersburg, Florida. 1969 (circa). State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory. <https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/93946>, accessed 11 June 2026.
MLA
Florida. - Division of Tourism. Caladium at the Sunken Gardens attraction in Saint Petersburg, Florida. 1969 (circa). State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory. Accessed 11 Jun. 2026.<https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/93946>
AP Style Photo Citation
(State Archives of Florida/Florida. - Division of Tourism.)
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