The many responses to Freedom magazine (published by the Church of Scientology) from local Clearwater residents show that our readers are interested in Clearwater and want to know more about it. Many residents expressed an interest in the colorful history of our city. Thus, Freedom magazine printed a multi-part series on the history of Clearwater, covering the discovery of what became known as Clear Water Harbor by early settlers through World War II. Because of the overwhelmingly popularity of that series, we are reprinting it in full on these web sites.

	No matter what the decade, the beach has always been a popular recreational spot in Clearwater. In 1902, a large pier and two-story pavilion were built at the foot of Cleveland Street, with a park and benches on the waterfront.

Clearwater pioneers marked the town’s entry into the 1900s with some important firsts. As we saw in Chapter III, one was the construction in 1900 by J.N. McClung of the town’s first ice factory. Prior to this, ice had to be hauled in by ship, carefully wrapped in burlap.

Another more significant event that same year was the stringing of the town’s first telephone line from the orange groves of John R. Davey, near Safety Harbor, to Coachman’s store on the corner of Fort Harrison and Cleveland. Shortly thereafter, a person in Clearwater could reach out and touch the rest of the country.

As the Wright Brothers made history with their first heavier-than-air flight in 1903, Davey expanded his operations and installed a telephone exchange to service Clearwater residents. By this time, the town’s population had grown to 400. But word of Clearwater’s beauty and charm had spread to other parts of the country, as evidenced by the tourists who increased its wintertime population to 1,000.

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