St. Petersburg, Florida is named after a city in Russia. The Florida city took its name from Saint Petersburg, the historic Russian city on the Baltic Sea, rather than from a person named Saint Peter.
The settlement was co-founded by John C. Williams and Peter Demens, a Russian-born businessman and railroad developer. Demens helped bring the Orange Belt Railway to the area in 1888, making the site more accessible and encouraging rapid growth. Local tradition says Williams and Demens flipped a coin to decide who would name the settlement; Demens won and chose the name of the city where he had spent part of his youth.
St. Petersburg, Russia, was founded by Peter the Great in 1703 and served as the capital of the Russian Empire for more than two centuries. It was later renamed Petrograd and Leningrad before its historic name was restored in 1991.
The Florida city was incorporated in 1892 with about 300 residents. It is commonly nicknamed “St. Pete” and is known as “the Sunshine City.”