The Sand Man and Shifting Sands

A Short History of John’s Pass

By Jim Schnur

Noel Mitchell hoped to gain golden profits from the silver sands along Johns Pass.

Rhode Island native Noel Mitchell made his early fortune selling saltwater taffy. He arrived in St. Petersburg by 1904 and soon became one of the Sunshine City’s greatest boosters. Branding himself the “Sand Man,” he vigorously promoted his real estate developments. Learning that St. Petersburg planned to extend its Central Avenue trolley line toward the Jungle area, Mitchell marketed tracts there in early 1912, more than a year before streetcar service began in December 1913. That same month, the city agreed to add brick pavement along Central Avenue west to Boca Ciega Bay, as well as along the dirt path today called Park Street.

In December 1913, boats started ferrying passengers between the Jungle streetcar line’s terminus at the suspected Narváez landing site and the south side of Johns Pass. Earlier that year, H. Walter Fuller had purchased much of what is now Treasure Island for $800. Albert B. Archibald and others planned a new development named “Gulf Beach” south of Johns Pass in January 1914.

The Sand Man’s Beach

Mitchell wanted his share of the action. He reached out to George Roberts, who in 1912 had homesteaded on Olive Island, sandy lands on the north side of Johns Pass. Roberts built a dock and dwelling on the otherwise uninhabited island.

Mitchell bought 138 acres from Roberts on February 18, 1914. His proposed Mitchell’s Beach extended from the mouth of Johns Pass northward to 140th Avenue in present-day Madeira Beach. Crews built a hotel and installed sidewalks and a sea wall at Johns Pass.

Calling himself “the undisputed sand slinger of Pinellas County,” Mitchell aggressively marketed his latest development by purchasing full-page ads. Boats regularly ran from both the Jungle and Gulfport Casino to Johns Pass. Although no bridges connected the mainland to the lower Gulf Beaches, people could catch a trolley in downtown St. Petersburg, board a ferry at the Jungle, and enjoy a stroll along Johns Pass in under an hour. Operators charged 20¢ for the round-trip boat ride.

In April 1914, Mitchell contemplated building a bridge between the Jungle and his beach. By May 1914, visitors to Mitchell’s Beach enjoyed piano music at the hotel and the legendary shore dinners prepared by Mitchell’s cooks. Grouper, pompano, stone crab, coquina soup and other salty delicacies filled the abundant menu.

Mitchell peppered newspapers with maps of a development platted for thousands of residents. However, aside from those visiting the hotel, fewer than two dozen took the bait and moved to Mitchell’s Beach. Why? Without a rainwater cistern or deep, reliable well, Olive Island had no potable water.

A 1926 aerial reveals that nothing remained of Mitchell’s Beach except for a few paved paths after the 1921 hurricane.

Switching Names, Changing Places

Mitchell responded by dropping the price of some lots to less than $750 in October 1915, even offering buyers a payment plan of $10 down with $5 monthly installments.

By the late 1910s Archibald re-branded his cottages south of Johns Pass as “Coney Island.” Taking the name originally used by Whiteford Smith Harrell for a hotel he built in 1915 near Blind Pass, Archibald competed against Mitchell for visitors to Johns Pass.

Soon thereafter, rumors circulated about beachcombers occasionally finding money protruding from the sand along Mitchell’s Beach. The Sand Man played up the story, taking out an ad on January 13, 1917 in which he ceremoniously renamed his Olive Island holdings “Treasure Island.”

Thus, the first Pinellas beach designated as “Treasure Island” occupies the lower half of present-day Madeira Beach!

Mitchell’s scheme happened a year before another “buried treasure” stunt by William McAdoo on the St. Pete Beach side of Blind Pass. Developers on both sides of Johns Pass also touted an earlier, unsubstantiated claim of riches supposedly buried before a September 1848 hurricane carved Johns Pass through its present location.

While Mitchell’s scheme attracted attention, his plan to develop Mitchell’s Beach failed. After World War I cooled interest in beach developments, Mitchell became St. Petersburg’s mayor in July 1920. Earlier that year, Archibald sold his St. Petersburg produce company and planned to develop both sides of Johns Pass. By February 1921, Archibald changed the name of Coney Island to Treasure Island, moving Treasure Island south of Johns Pass – where it remains to this day.

An October 1921 hurricane destroyed the docks and structures at Mitchell’s Beach. Less than a month later, with prohibition laws in effect, police raided a party Mitchell held in his city hall office, charging him with drunkenness. A recall election booted Mitchell out of office before the end of 1921. Subdued, Mitchell never again held public office. He passed away in October 1936.

Archibald sold his Treasure Island holdings by 1924. He then joined David S. Welch in transforming the lands north of Johns Pass into Madeira Beach.