ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Rays' stadium is located in the Historic Gas Plant District in St. Pete.
A local filmmaking company teamed up with some of the people who once called the Gas Plant District home and created a documentary to educate others about its importance.
Protecting history by projecting its images for all to see: that’s the approach for this new documentary about the Gas Plant community titled "Razed."
William Graveley shares his family’s story in the film along with black-and-white and colored photos, some taken more than 50 years ago.
“It’s heartwarming. It brings back sometimes tears, sometimes laughter,” Graveley said.
While standing in front of Tropicana Field today, he said he can still find that laughter in every direction he looks.
“A couple of blocks down here would’ve been Cats Grocery, and then going down a little bit, you would’ve had Bernstein’s Grocery on this side,” he said.
Beyond the paved parking lots, interstate and massive baseball stadium lies a history that must not be forgotten, and Gwendolyn Reese has worked for years to make sure it’s not.
“We forget how many different stories are part of this story and every story is unique and different,” Reese said.
It’s a uniqueness that has layers she is still discovering.
“I remember one young man whose story I did not know,” she said. “Touched me to my core. And because he was homeless. I didn’t know that anyone ended up really homeless. But he did. His family did.”
Anyone who’s ever met Reese knows she can recite her family’s address in the Gas Plant District decades after their family and countless others were forced out. Their homes were razed to make room for major league baseball.
“The paper at the time always made it seem like a blighted neighborhood. It was not. We were the model for mixed income. Because we were all incomes because of redlining. So, it was a wonderful place to grow up. I lived right there, 1305 5th Avenue South,” Reese said.
Photos of businesses from her childhood, homes belonging to teachers, preachers and everyday people are all things she can still see. But it’s the troubled past with how Tropicana Field came to be, and the promises made that she wants to shine a light on.
“They talk about a broken promise, I talk about a lie,” Reese said. “Because I don’t think it was ever meant to be fulfilled as a promise. I think it’s what was said to the community to get us to agree and feel better about giving up our neighborhood. The promise was better jobs and better housing.”
It’s a story Andrew Lee said he knew had to reach more people. Especially after hearing from people like Gravely and Reese.
“We were immediately and profoundly impacted by what we heard. So, we knew pretty quickly we had a deeper sense of responsibility to these folks to help bring their stories forward and help tell this history,” Lee said.
They found out the history for the community was well-documented, but not talked about nearly enough.
“The story is told from the voices of those who live there. So, we interviewed 20 former residents from the neighborhood, along with three historians who provide historical and political context as to what was going on at that time,” Lee said.
Seeing it up on the big screen will give it new meaning for the people like Graveley and Reese, who have always had pride in the neighborhood. It’s pride, they said, they’re hoping will co-exist with progress.
Reese is working with developers for the redevelopment project here, and she’s optimistic about the path forward. She says leaders with the project heard the same stories featured in the new film and that’s what gives her hope in honoring their past.
The documentary premiers on Saturday, Feb. 22 from 5 p.m. - 9 p.m. at the Foundation for a Healthy St. Pete Center for Health Equity, located at 2333 34th Street, St. Petersburg. A Sunday matinee showing will be opened up to the public at the same location from 2:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. There will also be another screening of the film at USF Tampa on Feb. 28.
For more on how to watch, click here.
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