The First Hundred Years: Clearwater Yacht Club, 1911-2011

women voted for the first time October 23, 1916 for a $10,000 bond issue to aid in building a bridge across CLEARWATER BAY to the Island on the Gulf…Miss Sue Barco being the first woman to cast her ballot” (Clearwater Women’s Club, 1917:9). The final vote on the bridge project was 131 for to 9 against building the bridge. So, the women of Clearwater had a hand in connecting the town to the then uninhabited barrier island that would become Clearwater Beach and would play a major role in the future history of Clearwater and the Clearwater Yacht Club.

Postcard of Cleveland Street just after the big fire of 1910. Courtesy of Heritage Village Archives and Library.

Clearwater Fire Department and City Hall—built in 1911. Photo by Burgert Bros. Tampa; c ourtesy of Heritage Village Archives and Library (P668008).

Chapter 1: In the Beginning 19