Monica Kile walks the walk through St. Pete history

She’s a seasoned marathon runner who’s competed all over the country; perhaps that’s why Monica Kile is imminently qualified to conduct walking tours all over the mean streets and sidewalks of historic St. Petersburg. She certainly has the stamina.

Actually, there’s much more to it than that. Armed with a Master’s degree in Florida Studies from the University of South Florida, Kile is an expert on early 20^th Century St. Pete and its celebrated architecture.

“What I find interesting about architecture is how it impacts the humans that live in it,” says Kile, who conducts several walking tours monthly for the I Love the Burg organization.

“For instance, I’m interested in why we have Mediterranean revival architecture, not necessarily the details of it. Although I can tell you what the characteristics are – you know, arches, clay tile roofs and stucco.”

Just published as part of Reedy Press’s walking tour history series, Kile’s St. Petersburg: A Walk Through History explores the city’s 1920s MedRev architecture (“It was really a way to get people to say ‘I don’t need to go to Europe! We’ve got cool architecture here. Why do I need to travel abroad?’”) along with its historic churches, homes, grand hotels, dance halls, cafeterias and shops.

A lot of it remains, squeezed between trendy bistros, office buildings and (gasp) skyscrapers.

Although the city had been established and settled decades before, it wasn’t until the 1920s that wealthy northerners began to regularly winter here. And the great St. Pete building boom began.

Of the 10 resort hotels erected in the ‘20s, eight are still standing; Kile features five of them in her book. “Buildings are almost like an artifact for me,” she says. “They’re a way to show the history and tell the story.”

At 556 Central Avenue, for example, is the art deco St. Petersburg Federal Savings and Loan Association building. In her research, Kile discovered the bank had been founded by three sisters – Cornelia, Elsie, and Ilona Somp – in 1935. “That story I think is so fascinating because of the women,” Kile enthuses. “The architecture’s cute, too, but it’s really an unusual story. That’s why I love old buildings – the stories that relate to them.”

The 48 pages of St. Petersburg: A Walk Through History are divided into map-like sections: The Scenic Waterfront, A Residential Downtown: Then and Now, Building a Tourist Town, The “First Block” and Historic Central Avenue, Williams Park and Boom-Era Buildings, Marvelous Mirror Lake, Evolving St. Pete and The Dynamic Deuces.

Whether in person or in the pages of her book, Kile walks the walk. “I like to really know what I’m talking about,” she stresses. “I don’t like to just make things up.

“Authenticity is really important to me. Bringing the stories alive. I like for people to understand the evolution of the city – that’s what I’m most interested in, to leave people with this impression of how the city has changed. We’ve had these real ups and downs, and how does that leave an imprint on what the city looks like?”

Kile conducting a tour outside the old Tramor Cafeteria, 123 4th Street N.

A native of Jacksonville, the erstwhile Monica Rowland was obsessed with history from an early age. “I moved to Europe after college and was working in a youth hostel,” she recalls, “and in Berlin, I got a job for an English-speaking tour guide company. I handed out the tour leaflets at the train station, to people that looked like they would speak English.

“And then they asked me to do a small part of one of the tours, and I really loved it.”

It was 2001. Back home, she attended a three-week seminar at the International Tour Management Institute in California – a training school for tour guides. “It was like, I’d come home. And I remember the instructors said ‘You’re really good at this. You should do this.’”

She got a job doing guided tours in St. Augustine, not too far south of Jacksonville, and at a family gathering got into a conversation with her cousin, Ray Arsenault. The University of South Florida professor had literally written the book on St. Pete history (St. Petersburg and the Florida Dream, 1888-1950), and was beginning a Florida Studies class on the USF St. Pete campus.

Monica Rowland was the first student accepted for the new class. She emerged two years later with a Master’s degree – and a husband, writer Jon Kile. They have two young children.

Her dedication to her adopted hometown led to years of work with the historic preservation group Preserve the ‘Burg (including a stint as executive director) and as growing reputation as one of the city’s leading historians.

Kile remembers her father, long ago, attempting to steer her in a different direction. “There’s no careers in history!” he’s said.

In a way, he was right. Being a prestigious tour guide – amd now, an author – doesn’t pay the bills. She recently accepted a job as librarian at the new Mangrove Bay Middle School. She absolutely loves it.

Ah, but historians aren’t in it for the money. “The part that’s nice about a walking tour,” she says, “is that people seem to really, really enjoy it. They’re so enthusiastic.”
Even on those days when she might be slightly less … enthusiastic to do yet another tour, that enthusiasm amps her up, and she remembers why she loves what she does.

“It feels like a real service to the history of the city, because people will say ‘Thanks – I really understand this,’ and ‘I learned so much.’

“It makes me feel like I’m doing something productive, like I’m using my skills as a researcher and a public speaker to do something for the city I love.”

St. Petersburg: A Walk Through History is available at local retailers including Tombolo Books, and via Amazon.