Francis G. Wagner's St. Petersburg Photographs

This collection documents the growth of St Petersburg during the 1920s. Photographer Francis G. Wagner [1891-1975], a native of Tontogany, Ohio, came to St. Petersburg in the winter of 1914. He opened St Petersburg's first camera store, the Strand Camera Shop at 9 Second Street in 1916. The Wagners sold the Strand Camera Shop to employee Charlie E. Jones in 1963 and Jones closed the shop around 1980. The space was rented to various businesses over the years.

Hired in April 1984 to clean out the old building's storage loft, Earl R. Jacobs, III found and preserved more than 900 negatives, which he later donated to USF Libraries - St. Petersburg Special Collections.