St. Petersburg is not just a beautiful city. It is a city that helped prototype the future.
Mar 31, 2026
What if a local news segment about an old drugstore is actually a story about the future of a city?
That is what stayed with me after watching Jeff Butera’s excellent recent Bay News 9 segment on Webb’s City, the legendary St. Petersburg institution once known as the “world’s most unusual drugstore.” Huge thanks to Jeff and the Bay News 9 team for doing the kind of local journalism that does more than report history. It helps a city remember who it is. Webb’s City was founded in 1926 and became a 77-department retail destination with more than 1,500 employees, blending low prices, spectacle, and experience in a way that was far ahead of its time.
That is why this story matters.
Webb’s City is not just a charming artifact from St. Pete’s past. It is evidence of something deeper in this city’s DNA: St. Petersburg has long been a place willing to experiment, invent, and build boldly. It understood experience, accessibility, and imagination before those became standard language in innovation circles.
That same spirit should guide what comes next for the Historic Gas Plant District.
Through the HGPD Community Design Sprint, The School of Creativity and Innovation and the Sierra Club are helping prototype the future of this district through community voice, human-centered design, and emerging technology. The goal is not to erase history, but to build from it. Not to impose a future, but to co-create one worthy of St. Pete’s legacy.
My hope is that the citizens of St. Petersburg rally around this moment and insist that the Historic Gas Plant District become a model for the world. A place where sustainable urban development honors memory, builds resilience, invites innovation, and creates shared prosperity without stripping away the city’s soul.
We do not revisit stories like Webb’s City just to feel nostalgic.
We revisit them to remember what this city is capable of.
St. Petersburg has prototyped the future before.
Now it is time to do it again.
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