St. Petersburg Museum of History

This is a hidden gem in St Pete Pier! I am a member of Tampa Bay watch Discovery center at St Pete Pier and found out they have reciprocal museum entrance for free! If you like baseball this place is interesting they have more than 5k signed baseballs by the players! My son found a crochet kindness for free left by someone at the museum! Double blessings!

We walked in early afternoon today as we have the NARM membership so in my mind, it would’ve been a free visit. The woman at the front desk was rude and condescending after I asked why this particular museum didn’t take it, “she said then everyone would just walk in for free”, yes that’s the point of having a reciprocal membership. Anyway, we paid the $15/person entrance fee, honestly it should’ve been $5/person. It took us less than one hr to browse the semi empty, cold museum. There is currently the largest baseball exhibit my husband liked, a lot of war photos and info, voting in St Pete women’s rights area and some local art. It is a decent museum to stop in if visiting the St Pete Pier and/or dining next door, Perry’s Porch…now that’s a 5⭐️ experience.

If you are hoping for a “history of Saint Petersburg, Florida” experience, you might be disappointed. This small museum, tucked away behind the massive Museum of Fine Arts at the pier, hosts mostly informative placards on the wall talking about various wars (Spanish American War, War in Afghanistan, Korean War), the women’s movement in St. Pete, and the history of art influence in St. Pete. It has very few actual historical artifacts (probably about a dozen total). The two coolest exhibits are the over 5,000 autographed baseballs on display and the 3,000 year old mummy. It took me just under an hour (at a slow pace) to see the whole thing and— for me— the mummy was the coolest thing in there. If you are bored and wanting to kill time (like I was) it could be worth the $15 admission. But this is not a “go out if you way” type museum like the Museum of Fine Arts is.

Cute little museum. Good way to spend an hour or so learning more about the area. It is near the shore side of the pier so not a long walk out to it, or you could ride the shuttle up to it. If driving you would have to find a lot or street spot & then walk out to it. Variety of exhibits on the pier/parks of the area, history of civil rights in the area, aviation history and a baseball collection. We found the history of the area and the changes over the years very interesting. We also found out about the augusta bricks we kept seeing around town. I did think that the $15 admission was a bit steep for all the bigger the museum was.

Nice place to spend an hour. Favorites are a brief exhibit of history of segregation in Pinellas County, and the mummy!

Fun little visit on the Pier. There was a large collection of autographed baseballs. And a few historic items and art. 30 minute visit.

I recently read a book on the history of St Petersburg which referenced this Museum several times. So I was inspired to take a Saturday and visit this place. Very nice museum. I enjoyed the exhibits including the special exhibit they had called Alligators and Oddities that was very interesting and very bizarre. Everything about alligators you could ever want to know. They had a great autographed baseball collection. I am not a baseball fan but I certainly enjoyed looking at that. The best part was the replica airplane from the first commercial airline in St Petersburg. Overall the museum told the story of the story of St Petersburg quite well. There were quite a few bits of information not in the book. Well worth a rainy Saturday.

After completing our Segway Tour we visited this museum. I use to coach baseball and have been a fan all my life. Our tour guide said if you love baseball that we should go. She was right. There is several interesting history displays here but the baseball exhibit was by far the most interesting to me.

We got free entrances with our morning eco tour so we stopped in. It has been a while. Such a well run museum with some great info about DTSP. Check out the military history here as well as the flight info. Definitely worth a visit

Great location at the base of the pier. Bright space and great venue for private events. Packs a lot of history into the space they have. As a member, you will have first dibs on some the most interesting tours and lectures. Fourth of July party here is a great deal. If you're a local, join. It's worth it.

Super cute little museum with lots of cool items and information on St. Pete and various historical causes and events. Half and half the calf was one of my personal favorites and the Egyptian exhibit even has a real sarcophagus and mummy that were brought by boat to St. Pete many years ago! Super cool! Would definitely recommend a visit here if you need something to do to cool down for an hour or two!

Located on the waters edge in St. Petersburg Fl. We spent two hours going throughout this museum. We loved the heartfelt war memorial to our heroes in battle as well as the national pastime tribute. The exhibition on oil paintings from the Burt Reynolds estate was very nicely done. Well worth the the entry price.

The lady at the front did not even acknowledge my presence. I walked around/waited in the front while she was in the phone. Never did she say one second I'll be with you or anything. I would never even try to go back.

This museum is a great place to spend a few hours and is really affordable. They have a really good exhibit of the civil rights movement in Florida as well as a small exhibit of the history of piers in the area. The museum also has Little Cooperstown which has the largest collection of autographed baseballs. I'm a big baseball guy so this caught my attention. The tour is self guided and you can take as long as you want. There is lots of information especially in the civil rights movement exhibit so time can be spent here reading all of the information. The baseball collection is impressive. Overall, we had a really nice time visiting the museum.

Very small museum; not impressive. Almost the entire museum was 2 exhibits: civil rights and autographed baseballs. I've been to quite a few civil rights museums and exhibits and this one was less interesting than others. Not worth the admission price even after the senior citizen discount.

Cute little local museum right by the Pier. If you love local history, the St. Petersburg Museum of History is a great gem. They have all sorts of curio (everything from a 3000 year old Egyptian mummy to a two headed, six legged calf) and pictures of the old Tampa Bay. Want to see footage of the old DTSP Soreno Hotel being blown up for Lethal Weapon 3? They have it. Want to see the long history of the St. Pete Pier? There's a whole room for that. Are you a baseball buff? They have 5000 signed baseballs in a room. Want to see the first plane used in scheduled passenger flights? They have it. The Benoist flew in between St. Pete and Tampa, and it's hanging over the gift shop. Admission is on par with museums of this size in this area (about the same as the comparable history museum in Tampa). Admission is free for kids 6 and under, although my kids were a little creeped out by the curio and were a bit young to appreciate most of the stuff. All in all, this is a nice, air conditioned place to stop between Beach and the Pier. There's plenty of pay parking in the adjacent lot.

Cute, small museum located at St. Pete Pier! (I can't wait for the expansion.) For such a small museum, it is jammed pack with information. The museum does an excellent job acknowledging the history of racism and gender inequity, while telling the story of St Pete. I love the quirky little features. So many fun and funny gems! Would love to see more historical photos of the landscape and maybe some city founders. They should also feature information about the pier!

Meh. Not really my cup of tea. The Egyptian exhibit is almost nothing. A tiny cubicle with one wood sarcophagus and one mummy. I mean, you do learn about the civilization with the screen, hence the two stars but not worth it.

We had the most amazing wedding reception at the museum after a beautiful ceremony in South Straub Park. Lindsay was so sweet to work with and she worked with our day-of coordinator to ensure we had the MOST PERFECT day, better than I could have ever imagined! We rented the full museum and had a scavenger hunt during cocktail hour, which our guests loved! The Flight One Gallery was perfect and I was so happy with how it all came out. We met in St. Pete and LOVE living here, so we were so happy to be able to embrace that with our wedding venue and the theme of our wedding. So many guests complimented how authentic our wedding felt, and I think that was because we chose such a wonderful (and totally under-utilized) venue. We hadn't been able to see a lot of reviews of the museum after the Pier opened but it is great! We had originally been disappointed that we couldn't get married right there (the parking lot has taken over the grassy area they used to have), but there are so many options nearby with the pier and the nearby parks. I truly cannot say enough about how great our wedding was! We also appreciated all the vendor recommendations - they were all fantastic. Thank you so much, Lindsay!

I really enjoyed reading about alot of the black history...it seemed like some of the displays were rushed up because some of them were very noticeably uneven almost hanging offthe wall

This is an enjoyable museum where you can learn more about St Petersburg and Florida history. I recommend combining a visit with a walk across Central Avenue to see the Snell hotel and arcade building and to stop and see the beautifully preserved St Petersburg post office. Also recommended is a visit to Roser Park to see the historic homes and neighborhood and the Greenwood cemetery where many local pioneers are buried. Learning an area's history really makes a visit that much more interesting!

Our group of seniors really enjoyed our docent-led tour. He was incredibly knowledgeable and had a great sense of humor. A self-guided tour is possible, but you won't hear all the stories a docent has to offer. How great it was to find out the Penny Marshall/League of Their Own connection to those signed women's baseballs. In addition to the baseball-player signed balls, tons of celebrity and politician-signed balls are there as well. There is so much history about St. Petersburg packed into this museum through pictures and displays. Again, our docent gave us a wonderful timeline of the pier and patiently answered our questions. There were Civil Rights and Women's Movement displays at the time we went. Both were fascinating, but particularly the Civil Rights stories that played out in Florida. We will be back!

Not impressed, only one small room of actual St Petersburg history. If you only went here, you'd think people only swam and fished during their winter visit. Nothing about the lawn bowling or shuffleboard clubs? I learned more in the free history timeline area in the Vinoy Hotel lobby.

My son found this online because of his love for all things baseball. He said it had the most autographed balls in the world. And it was true. Holy moly. So cool. 5000 signed balls in a collection. The video on the collector was cool. And there was another room about the history of the town which was small but good. And there was a fun room about alligators. And there was a plane with some significance when you first walk in. If you aren't interested in seeing baseballs, this may not be the place for you. But me and my son were squealing with delight with all the names we knew. We looked at every name. It was spectacular for a true baseball fan.

3000 year-old mummy? A hanging, full-sized replica of a 1911 airplane? You betcha..it's here at the Museum of History. The museum's been around for a long time..50 years or more and is chocked-full of St. Pete's past. There's a dugout canoe from the Tocobaga peoples, a full sized working replica of the world's first commercial airplane (yep, St. Pete is the site of the world's first airline!), a stuffed two-headed calf, antiques and my favorite..Highwaymen paintings. The Highwaymen were a group of African American painters of Florida scenes who went around to hotels and other establishments selling their oil paintings for $25. Now they are collectibles and highly sought after. There are 10 hanging here and I mmight say, quite beautiful to look at. A fun place to take the whole family and learn a little history of St. Petersburg.

This is a quirky little museum that's actually pretty easy to miss when visiting all the museums in downtown St. Petersburg. But, it would be a shame to miss this one. The oldest resident of St Pete lays within the walls. She's 3000 years old and hasn't revealed the mystery of how she came to the sunshine city. The other exhibits highlight some of the memories of our city and state from years past. This is alway a great venue for special occasions- banquets, weddings and even dances. It's located on the approach to the pier.

They were between exhibits when I went, tickets ere half price. I saw a lot of baseballs. Not really a sports person. 1 room about the pioneers of Pinellas. A coming soon aviation aytraction. I would have been ticked if I had to pay full price. It's small and new, the girl at the front desk is pleasant.

The museum is a beautiful venue for a wedding reception. The location is excellent on the new beautiful pier right on the water. The staff at the museum were all very helpful in planning and assisting with my daughter's reception. The price was quite reasonable and well worth it and you can rent out the galleries as well as the reception room. They also have a nice area for cocktail hour. The guests as well as the bride and groom all loved it!

Baseball lovers beware....I have I got a place for you! The St. Petersburg Museum of History is small...but mighty! It houses 4999 balls to date. They are autographed by some amazing players....set up in time lines, hall of famers, celebrities, local teams, and much more. If you are lucky enough you can spend a few minutes talking to the curator...he has tons of great information! My grand-son LOVED this place....he studied those balls and names for a long time! They also have a small history of St Pete section, with various items on display. Small...but cute with some interesting facts! On this visit they had the Sign of Our Times exhibit....which was also very interesting. Seeing some old iconic signs brought back some fond memories! What museum would be complete without the history of the flight. They boast about the first flight from St Pete to Tampa back in 1914 with a little documentary to watch. All-in-all a great day learning a little bit of history that surrounds us! This museum is a quick walk from the Dali museum....so make a day of it!

Our friend got married here last night, and I have to say the venue was excellent. The guests loved being able to walk around and look at the exhibits during cocktail hour. The space was perfect for a wedding of 100 or so. James, who pretty much runs the place, is fantastic. Very detail oriented, super helpful, definitely knows his way around events. He made sure all the details were covered. They had a 5 piece band playing which I was a little unsure of from looking at the space - but it turned out they sounded great. If you are looking for somewhere to have a small wedding or private event - this is a great choice. My only word of advice, although Hops n Props in next door, I would suggest NOT getting your catering from here. Their food is great, and their catering staff is works magic with what they have available to them. But they are a bar and restaurant, not a caterer. So food comes out when they scheduled it - not a minute early, and when food runs out, it has to be caught early so they can cook more. So, I might suggest looking at their other catering options.

First let me say I had visited this museum several times a year when I was a child and LOVED it. BACK THEN it was tons of fun stuff to look at from stuffed animals to old costumes, the two headed calf....case after case of interesting stuff for a kid. I hadn't been since probably the 80's. I knew the museum had been given a renovation but I was really unprepared for how little the museum actually displays. It is a beautiful building, you walk in and pay (luckily we had a BOGO Groupon or I would have been really mad) and there is a large, open room with the "Air History"...aside from the large replica (or original, I couldn't tell you because I couldn't easily find the information for the airplane information), there wasn't a lot to look at. We entered the history of baseball and there were hundreds if not thousands of baseballs signed but in an order I couldn't figure out. We explored the History of Florida room (Maybe 13x13) and it had maybe 10 items and tons of pictures and explanations. Uggg...I'm so frustrated I can't even go on. It was a building full of pictures and descriptions but not a lot of "items"...I felt like I could have looked at a book and felt as connected to history as I did in this museum. The only thing I enjoyed with the tiny Egyptian room with the mummy. My husband, who had never been to the museum before, was also surprised by how little was actually "there".... I feel like they are trying to make this museum something it is not....I'm sure it is an interesting place for a party or event but don't waste your money. We looked at everything and were in and out in less than 20 minutes. A museum should make history come alive, not be stories and descriptions written on walls. BRING BACK THE COOL, QUIRKY STUFF!!!!

The museum does not do a good job of "telling the St Petersburg Story". The museum has only a small historical reference to downtown's past and how it started. The aviation exhibit was far too large (yet sparse) for the small event that occurred. The museum really should provide exhibits that celebrate the City's neighborhoods' pasts. The staff is VERY friendly and willing to talk. There is free parking in the back of the museum.

Jammed packed with local history, this small buildings affords visitos and locals alike, a brief but detailed look back at St.Pete's contributions to WWII, commercial aviation and the simplicity of what use to be. Particularily enjoyable to those new to area, is s connection to named streets, buildings and parks - named for those in business and government that created what we enjoy today. Finally, the large room opposite to the ticket area presents a scale model of the approved Pier renovation, entitled "The Lens". Tip: Use your Yelp Checkin deal to get either a two for one, or $10 off of a single tcket.

If it wasn't for Yelp, I would have never known this little gem exists! We bought the Yelp deal, $12 for $24, which gets 2 adults into the museum. I think my opinion may have been different if I spent $24 for my husband and I to walk around this very small museum. However, for $12, it was totally worth it! Yes, it is quite small, but it is loaded with great local history. I learned a great deal about Florida and St. Petersburg. And I got to see a 3000 year old mummy! How cool is that? You can also check out the plans for the new pier. They have a full model of what it will look like with lots of details you can read. Way to go St. Pete for finding a way to collect rain water and harness wind and solar power. I'm excited to see the new pier in a couple of years!

There are 3 reasons the museum doesn't get my 5 stars: 1. I'm very critical (get it? I'm a critic - har, har!) - only the best of the best gets my 5 stars. 2. I wish the place was bigger! 3. For the price, I expected there to be more - I keep hoping for additions, or changes; but alas, they never come. With that said, if you're anything like me, you're obsessed with history museums and you might as well go, regardless of price. It really is bigger than it seems, so don't let the outside fool you, but don't get your hopes up for a mini Smithsonian - this is St Pete, afterall! Anyway, go - enjoy

The best part of it all is Hops & Props! The little spot next to the museum held strong during the pier construction and it always has a great vibe. The owner and her staff work hard and they're always super friendly.

The only exhibit open, unless you were apart of the private party, was the Benoist Airplane, which was pretty damn nifty. I guess some bag of money built a replica which is supposed to be making its maiden voyage on the 1st. The original engine was there and on display, there's just something incredibly cool about a 100 year old piece of machinery isn't there?

Top-notch wedding spot. Great water view ceremony, perfect reception room, located close to the St Pete night life for after party, and all the staff was easy to work with. A+

We attended a concert here by Hip Abduction. The sound was very good, not too crowded, and plenty of places to sit or get up close to the band. I hope there are more of these in the future. It was a nice way to spend an evening in downtown St. Pete. We ate at Ceviche, had a beer at Moon Under the Water, and a coffee at Nola Cafe. Then we headed over to the Museum for a concert. A very nice date night!

Went to a private event here and am glad that I did. They had a baseball exhibit (Little Cooperstown) that I really enjoyed. The museum is small, but great location and I learned a lot. I like the aviation part as well.

My husband and I attended a wedding here last night. I am embarrassed to admit that I've lived in the area for 8 years and really didn't even know this place existed. It is in a great location on the water in St. Pete on the opposite end of the peninsula that houses the Pier. From inside we had views of the bay on both sides, particularly beautiful since a lot of the sail boats still had Christmas lights on them! The actual space for the wedding was a perfect size, ample room for tables, chairs, dance floor and DJ. Also very cool was the fact that when you rent the museum for such an event you get the whole museum so we got to walk around and check out the exhibits. I'm not a huge history buff, but there were interesting items in here and it was a great time filler between switching the ceremony room over into the reception. Bathroom facilities were clean and close to ballroom we were in, which is always great. Parking was convenient and a $3.00 flat fee for the evening seemed reasonable and much better than street parking with meters and moving every 2 hours. Overall this was a unique and beautiful venue with a great location and sweeping bay views.

This museum was worth a visit but I don't think I need to go back a second time. The exhibition on Cuba was quite interesting; the baseball and airplane ones less so. I felt like there really wasn't a whole lot about the history of the city and the area besides the one smallish room. Also, the parking was really limited and the price steep for what you see. It was a nice way to escape a hot afternoon but I wasn't wowed.

I passed by this place about a dozen times and never knew that it was there. It is an amazing place and recommend that you take a visit if you are in the area. It cost $12 to get in which might be a little expensive for this small place but overall a good experience.

Really interesting. Very few places to sit. The big disappointment was the exhibit we looked forward to the most was closed to us because they we setting up for a Sat eve event. We tried to go there first before set up had begun in earnest, but were shoo'd out for "safety" concerns.

If you use the discount deal its not bad especially if you are a baseball fan. The autograph collection is impressive. However, the rest of the museum is a bit underwhelming for the price.