CLEARWATER

city, seat (1912) of Pinellas County, western Florida, U.S., on Clearwater Bay, just west of Tampa via the Courtney Campbell Causeway across Old Tampa Bay. Odet Phillippe, former surgeon in Napoleon's navy, planted citrus groves there in the mid-1830s. After Ft. Harrison was established (1841) on the coastal bluffs, homesteaders under James Stevens arrived. A small farming and fishing settlement called Clear Water Harbor (named for the clear, sulfated springs bubbling up offshore) evolved. Tourism developed after the arrival of the Orange Belt Railroad (1888). After World War II there was urban and industrial expansion. The city is connected to Clearwater Beach, a white-sand key, by the Garden Memorial Causeway. Clearwater Marina berths a sport-fishing fleet and is the location of the Sea-Orama, a museum and aquarium (opened 1954) exhibiting life forms from the Gulf. The city is the location of a campus of St. Petersburg Junior College. Inc. town, 1891; city, 1915. Pop. (1990) city, 98,784; TampaSt. PetersburgClearwater MSA, 2,067,959.