Clearwater Beach History: A Dated Timeline From the First Bridge to Today

What five dates shaped Clearwater Beach?

Each of these changed who could get to the island or why they came.

1. 1917: the wooden bridge from Seminole Street is finished and the island is platted for development. The Clearwater Beach Hotel goes up the same year.
2. 1927: the first Memorial Causeway is dedicated to the dead of World War I.
3. 1952: a 450-foot fishing pier goes in at the end of State Road 60. Today's Pier 60 stands in the same spot.
4. 2005: the 74-foot fixed Memorial Causeway bridge opens on August 18, replacing the old drawbridge. That December, Winter the dolphin is rescued on the east coast and taken to the aquarium on Island Estates.
5. 2016: Tripadvisor names Clearwater Beach the top beach in the U.S. for the first time. It does it again in 2018 and 2019.

What was here before the first bridge?

Not much. The city's own chronology calls it Clear Water Island and names its first homesteader: Prudence Shafer, in 1883. In 1896 Ernest Tate bought the island for $200 and built a house, and for a while people called it Tate's Island. Until 1917 there was no bridge across Clearwater Harbor.

The mainland town is older. During the Seminole wars the Army built Fort Harrison on the bluffs where the Harbor Oaks neighborhood now stands, as a place for soldiers to recover, and abandoned it in 1841. A post office opened in 1859 under the name Clear Water Harbor. The name became one word in 1895, "Harbor" was dropped in 1906, and the city was incorporated on May 27, 1915. So when someone says Clearwater dates to the 1840s, they mean the mainland. Our guide to Clearwater vs Clearwater Beach explains how the two fit together today.

The beach as a place people lived and stayed starts with the bridge. In 1916 voters took up a $10,000 bond issue to help pay for a crossing, and in 1917 the "Rickety Bridge" was finished from Seminole Street to the east side of the island. The Bridge Company platted the beach for development that year, and the Clearwater Beach Hotel, the island's first, was built. (The city's "About Clearwater" page dates the first wooden bridge to 1916; its longer chronology says it was completed in 1917.)

What happened when? The Clearwater Beach timeline, 1883 to 2026

One row per event, each with a date and a link to the source. "City chronology" means the City of Clearwater's own "Chronological History of Clearwater." Where two sources disagree, the row says so.

How did the bridges to the beach change?

Clearwater Beach is a barrier island, and each era of its history lines up with a new way across the water.

When the 2005 bridge opened, the Times reported, the city planned to turn part of the old drawbridge's west end into a 300-foot pedestrian promenade. The causeway carries State Road 60 onto the island, and Pier 60 stands where the road meets the Gulf.

How has Pier 60 changed since 1952?

Pier 60 sits at the west end of State Road 60, next to Pier 60 Park (370 Mandalay Ave).

• 1952: a 450-foot fishing pier is built at the end of State Road 60.
• 1994: the pier is rebuilt in what the city called a "Tropical Seascape Theme" and extended to 1,080 feet.
• March 17, 1995: Sunsets at Pier 60 debuts as a nightly sunset festival. A 501(c)(3) nonprofit runs it.
• Fall 2024: Helene and Milton damage the pier, and it closes.
• September 1, 2025: the stretch from the bait house to the gate reopens for fishing. Bay News 9 reported that the bait house alone needed more than $300,000 in repairs. For current rules, see our guide to fishing on Pier 60 today.

That 2025 reopening was partial. For hours, fishing passes and how far out you can walk as of October 2026, see our Pier 60 guide, and check before you go.

Has Clearwater Beach really been ranked No. 1? The awards ledger

Yes, three times on Tripadvisor's U.S. list. Not every year, and not on every list. The ledger below goes through every Tripadvisor Travelers' Choice beach press release from 2011 to 2026 and records where Clearwater Beach appeared in the lists Tripadvisor printed, next to the USA Today 10Best placings on 10Best's Clearwater Beach page.

All USA Today 10Best placings come from the 10Best awards page for Clearwater Beach, which lists earlier years' results. 10Best awards are reader votes on a list of nominees. Tripadvisor's are calculated from the quality and quantity of traveler reviews. Neither measures water quality or safety. The 2026 Tripadvisor list was based on reviews posted from November 30, 2024 to December 1, 2025, a window that opened about two months after Helene and Milton. Honeymoon Island State Park also made that year's U.S. top 10, at No. 10.

Bottom line: Clearwater Beach has been Tripadvisor's top U.S. beach three times (2016, 2018, 2019), and it was named in the U.S. rankings of 7 of the 11 beach releases from 2015 to 2026. When an ad says "rated No. 1," ask which year and which list. Our guide to what Clearwater Beach is known for covers the rest of its reputation.

Which storms are part of the beach's history?

For hurricane season, trip insurance and what to do if a storm threatens your trip, see our Clearwater Beach hurricane season guide.

• October 25, 1921: an unnamed hurricane cut Hog Island in two, creating Hurricane Pass between today's Honeymoon and Caladesi Island (city chronology).
• March 1993: the "Superstorm" set the record at the NOAA tide gauge on Clearwater Beach, which stood until 2024 (National Hurricane Center).
• September 26, 2024, Helene: the gauge, with records back to 1973, measured 6.67 feet above mean higher high water (roughly, the normal high-tide line), a new record. A USGS sensor on the beach measured 6.75 feet (National Hurricane Center).
• October 9, 2024, Milton: landfall on Siesta Key as a Category 3, with hurricane conditions along the coast from Clearwater Beach southward (National Hurricane Center).

For what's open now after the 2024 storms, see Is Clearwater Beach open?

Which old landmarks are gone, and which still stand?

Only places with a dated source made this list. Postcards and "remember when" posts don't count.

The grouper sandwich that made Frenchy's famous has its own page: Frenchy's grouper sandwich. The palm-lined promenade finished in 2008 is covered in our Beach Walk guide.

Was Dolphin Tale filmed on Clearwater Beach?

Mainly at the aquarium, across the causeway on Island Estates, not on the main Gulf beach. The Clearwater Marine Aquarium (249 Windward Passage) says it closed to the public for three months while Dolphin Tale was filmed there in 2010, though its 24-hour animal hospital kept working. Visitors can still see Dr. Haskett's office set. Bill DeYoung's 2022 history of the films for the St Pete Catalyst names other locations, including:

• Dolphin Tale (2011): the aquarium; the pool at Clearwater's Long Center (1501 N. Belcher Rd.); Admiral Farragut Academy in St. Petersburg; a private backyard in Clearwater; a street in Oldsmar; and a stretch of Honeymoon Island beach, where Sawyer finds the baby dolphin.
• Dolphin Tale 2 (2014): the aquarium again, open to visitors on weekends during the shoot; Fort De Soto Park; Florida Hospital North Pinellas and the Sponge Docks, both in Tarpon Springs; and Island Way Grill (20 Island Way), next door to the aquarium, for a party scene.

The real Winter wasn't from here. The aquarium lists her rescue date as December 10, 2005, and her origin as Mosquito Lagoon, on Florida's Atlantic coast. She was about two months old and tangled in crab trap line, and was brought across the state for care. Hope, the dolphin in the sequel, was rescued on December 11, 2010. Our Clearwater Marine Aquarium guide covers tickets and what's on view now.

Frequently asked questions

When was Clearwater Beach founded?

The beach has no single founding date. Its first homesteader, Prudence Shafer, arrived in 1883, and it was first platted for development in 1917, the year the wooden bridge was finished. The City of Clearwater, on the mainland, was incorporated on May 27, 1915.

When was the first bridge to Clearwater Beach built?

The wooden "Rickety Bridge" from Seminole Street was completed in 1917, a year after a $10,000 bridge bond issue went to a vote. The first Memorial Causeway followed in 1927, and the current fixed bridge opened on August 18, 2005.

Why is it called Pier 60?

It stands at the end of State Road 60, which crosses the Memorial Causeway and ends at the beach. The first pier there, 450 feet long, was built in 1952. The current 1,080-foot pier dates from a 1994 rebuild.

Was Clearwater Beach ever ranked the No. 1 beach in America?

Yes. Tripadvisor's Travelers' Choice awards named it the No. 1 U.S. beach in 2016, 2018 and 2019. It ranked No. 6 in 2025 and No. 2 in 2026, behind La Jolla Cove.

What was Clearwater Beach called before?

The city's records call it Clear Water Island when the first homesteader arrived in 1883. After Ernest Tate bought it for $200 in 1896, it was known for a time as Tate's Island.

Was Winter the dolphin found at Clearwater Beach?

No. The Clearwater Marine Aquarium lists her rescue as December 10, 2005, in Mosquito Lagoon on Florida's east coast. She lived at the aquarium until her death, which the aquarium announced on November 11, 2021.

How old is the Palm Pavilion?

It opened in 1926, according to the city's chronology, which makes 2026 its 100th anniversary. The Hamilton family owned it for more than 60 years before its 2026 sale, and the restaurant now operates as Crabby's Beachside Pavilion.