The Tampa Bay area has a lot of unique leisure activities associated with the area, none more so than shuffleboard.
Getting in on the Shuffleboard craze
The St. Petersburg Shuffleboard Club was founded at the height of the shuffleboard craze of the 1920s. The shuffleboard craze happened for a few reasons — the game was relatively easy to learn, it could be played indoors or outdoors, and the 1920s saw the rise of leisure time and the availability of novel forms of entertainment.
In 1923, Connecticut jeweler, Phineas T. Ives, visited St. Petersburg. He had played shuffleboard on the east coast of Florida, enjoyed it, and wanted to play more. He urged the city to build courts in Mirror Lake Park. And that fall two courts were built, right in front of where the clubhouse stands.
Then, in 1924, a group of shuffleboard players — six in this case — organized what they called the St. Petersburg Mirror Lake Park Shuffleboard Club. It was the first strictly shuffleboard club in the world. In time, it became the largest club of its kind in the world.
People playing shuffleboard at the St. Petersburg Shuffle Board Club on Mirror Lake in 1925. Courtesy, Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System 
Shuffleboard players 1925, before the physical clubhouse was built. Courtesy, Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System 
Shuffleboard players in 1949. Courtesy, Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System 
Shuffleboard players in 1947. Courtesy, Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System 
Shuffleboard players in 1949. Courtesy, Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System
Peaks and valleys of the St. Pete Shuffleboard Club
The membership growth of the Roaring Twenties continued into the Thirties, and the club progressed physically and institutionally as well. The clubhouse was expanded in and old courts were replaced with modern ones.
In 1925, the club hosted the first All-States Festival of States tournament. The tournament was played under St. Petersburg Club rules, which had been drawn up by a committee headed by Phineas T. Ives. At the time, each club had its own set of rules. But later in the decade, the official rules for shuffleboard everywhere were written at the club.
At its peak, the club had over 5,000 members, and it hosted numerous tournaments and events throughout the year.
Read more Hidden Histories of Tampa Bay
Membership decreased during WWII but picked up again in the late 1940s. But by the 1970s membership was on the decline again. In fact, in 1972 there was a proposal to move the club and turn the site into a parking lot! Luckily that didn’t happen and in 1994 the city’s historic preservation office designated the club, its buildings and courts a historic landmark.
Bringing back the community element
In its heyday, the club was more than a club for shuffleboard players. It was a community recreation center, where members could play bridge, watch movies, hold parties and dances. But its core remained shuffleboard players, and in time, the community centers and recreation centers, along with television, and the move to the suburbs meant people became less and less interested in going to the club for shuffleboard.
In 2005, a group of young artists took up the game and joined forces with preservationists to host Friday night games. The public was invited to play for free on Friday nights (members can play any time), bring their own food and drinks, and spend a lovely evening shuffling under the stars. This lead to an increase in shuffleboard interest that remains. You can still head on down the club every Friday night for the St. Pete Shuffle.
The St. Petersburg Shuffleboard Club is still going strong and looking forward to another century of shuffleboard in the Tampa Bay area.
