in Jacksonville was expensive for him at the time, Demens took "a steamer to the back country, where he expected to get more for his money". He decided to enter the lumber business ("investing in a sawmill and a construction company in Longwood, Fla."), and in 1885 Demens was supplying railroad ties to the narrow-gauge Orange Belt Railway. When the railroad could not pay its debts, Demens took over its charter. As owner of the railroad, Demens "[extended] its lines to link Kissimmee with Jacksonville and Tampa Bay" (with the help of Hamilton Disston). Among potential investors, he successfully invited and entertained Philip D. Armour in Florida, and named a train depot in his honor. Demens went into great debt to get the line completed, and sold it in 1889; the railroad eventually was bought by Henry B. Plant, owner of the Plant System of railroads. Demens co-founded St. Petersburg with John Constantine Williams Sr. On June 8, 1888 the first train pulled into the terminus in southern Pinellas County (the end of the line) with one passenger. The area had no official name and no real streets or sidewalks. After a drawing of straws, Demens won and named the location of his terminus St. Petersburg, Florida, after Saint Petersburg, Russia, where he had spent half his youth. Williams would have named it Detroit, which name was given to the first hotel. Death and legacy Demens eventually retired to Alta Loma, California to the family ranch (what later became known as Demens-Tolstoy Estate). Reportedly, "the descendants of Peter Demens now live in California and British Columbia, [including] a grandson, Peter Demens Tolstoy ("writer Leo Tolstoy, who wrote Anna Karenina and The Death of Ivan Ilych, is his great-grand uncle"), a great-grandson, Greg Demens, and a great-great-grandson, Greg Demens." Demens Landing in St. Petersburg, Florida is named in his honor. In 1979, a granite monument was erected in St. Petersburg, Florida in memory of the founder of the city, who named it after St. Petersburg, Russia. Notes References Gene Burnett. "Florida's Past: People and Events That Shaped the State". Pineapple Press. August 1998. History – 280 pages. . Grismer, Karl H. "The Story of St. Petersburg". St. Petersburg, FL: P. K. Smith, 1948. Peter Demens. "My Life in America". Mohoff, George & Jack Valov. "A Stroll Through Russiantown" 1996. Chapter 13, pp. 83–88, "Captain Peter A. Demens". External links Peter and