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James Rex Shoecraft was a veteran of the Spanish American War. He moved to Pinellas Park in 1911 and served on the first town council. He was elected as mayor from 1917-1926 and 1932-1953. He served on the county commission and was presented with the Angus Smith award for outstanding service by the Pinellas Republicans.
He fought for a bigger Pinellas Park. He championed the construction of County Roads 15 and 16 and Welch Causeway which provided a shortcut to the Gulf Beaches from the western end of Gandy Bridge.
He was one of the original backers of the program to create Lake Seminole and led the drive to extend Pinellas Park's Park Boulevard to tie in with the Gulf Coast Highway.
He crusaded for many years to get the Joe's Creek and Sawgrass Lake drainage projects and along with P. J. McDevitt created Pinellas Park's first drainage district and a chief proponent of the county commissioners taking over the old drainage districts and the obtaining of legislation under which a countywide mileage levy sufficient to tackle big drainage problems one-by-one on a pay-as-you-go basis was levied.
He served two terms as Director of the Pinellas Soil and Water Conservation District, Director of Florida Association of Soil Conservation, president of the Pinellas County Farm Bureau, represented Pinellas County on the West Coast Inland Navigation District (unit represented six counties along the lower West Coast interested in securing the intracoastal canal's completion from Fort Myers northward to Tarpon Springs. Served as school trustee in District 15 and was a member of the Pinellas Park and St. Petersburg Chambers of Commerce, the Presbyterian Church, Masons, Lions Club and the United Order Junior American Mechanics all of Pinellas, Elks Club and General Leonard Wood Camp SAWV of St. Petersburg.
As a professional Agriculturist, he had a flower farm and became Florida's first expert grower of perishable flowers. In 1953 fellow citizens honored him by naming a new building at the County Fair Grounds after him.
He fought for a bigger Pinellas Park. He championed the construction of County Roads 15 and 16 and Welch Causeway which provided a shortcut to the Gulf Beaches from the western end of Gandy Bridge.
He was one of the original backers of the program to create Lake Seminole and led the drive to extend Pinellas Park's Park Boulevard to tie in with the Gulf Coast Highway.
He crusaded for many years to get the Joe's Creek and Sawgrass Lake drainage projects and along with P. J. McDevitt created Pinellas Park's first drainage district and a chief proponent of the county commissioners taking over the old drainage districts and the obtaining of legislation under which a countywide mileage levy sufficient to tackle big drainage problems one-by-one on a pay-as-you-go basis was levied.
He served two terms as Director of the Pinellas Soil and Water Conservation District, Director of Florida Association of Soil Conservation, president of the Pinellas County Farm Bureau, represented Pinellas County on the West Coast Inland Navigation District (unit represented six counties along the lower West Coast interested in securing the intracoastal canal's completion from Fort Myers northward to Tarpon Springs. Served as school trustee in District 15 and was a member of the Pinellas Park and St. Petersburg Chambers of Commerce, the Presbyterian Church, Masons, Lions Club and the United Order Junior American Mechanics all of Pinellas, Elks Club and General Leonard Wood Camp SAWV of St. Petersburg.
As a professional Agriculturist, he had a flower farm and became Florida's first expert grower of perishable flowers. In 1953 fellow citizens honored him by naming a new building at the County Fair Grounds after him.