C.O.C.A. Times

York's Broadway with Florida beauties to promote the
city. Traffic was snarled by the display, but tourism
was the beneficiary.
Despite this fun-loving demeanor, Pulver locked
horns with the city council over issue after issue. In
1923, with Pulver absent, the locals approved a
change in the city's charter, by a vote of 431 to
356, that significantly slashed the mayor's power.
Pulver fought the council who fired Police Chief Ed-
ward Bidaman because of his support of Pulver. Pul-
ver kept Bidaman on, even after another chief was
named by the council. "One police chief would jail
the town drunks, the second chief would let them
out," the St. Petersburg Times wrote. Despite the
street theater this provided, the court later ruled
that Bidaman had to go.
Pulver's political enemies accused him of graft and
prohibitionists called "Uncle Frank" a bootlegger. Yet
Pulver religiously donated his $1 00-a-month salary to
the Milk Fund for Needy Children. The people backed
Frank during two attempts to recall him from office,
but in January 1924, a third recall attempt suc-
ceeded and Pulver, like his predecessor, was removed
from office.
and the Hollenbeck
Hotel that was adver-
Fla.
tised in city directo-
~11J
ries as foremost
among the top hotels
of the city. Not one
to be overlooked,
Frank quickly became
one of the city's most
recognized and noted
businesspersons.
In 1 921, St. Peters-
St. Petersburg, Florida in 1919
burg was somewhat of a
freewheeling city. Its mayor, Noel Mitchell, had been
removed from office the year before for holding a
Prohibition-era liquor party in his office. Mithcell
found that there was nothing in the city's charter
that prohibited him from running for office again,
which he did against none other than Frank Pulver.
When the 3,584 votes were totaled on December
20 th , Frank Pulver had 2,172 versus Mithcell's 1,412
- Frank Pulver had become the first Republican Mayor
of the city by a margin of 760 votes. Pulver's first
demands: Have prisoners tidy his office, and he or-
dered officers to be clean-shaven stating that "clean-
liness, always next to Godliness, should commence at
home." The millionaire bachelor mayor was known
for always waring a snow-white suit. He originated a
"White Suit Day" to celebrate spring's arrival. Always
the charismatic leader, most business owners joined
in the civic fun.
Mayor Pulver was an ardent and life-long promoter
of the city and tourism. To help promote the city,
Pulver and publicity guru John Lodwick invented the
Purity League. Empowered by a
supposed ordinance and the
mythical Purity League who asked
Pulver to "protect married men,"
they cruised beaches looking for
"sea vamps" who dared to reveal
too much skin in the new one-piece
bathing attire that was all the rage.
"What's the world coming to?"
Pulver would ask, tongue-in-cheek,
as the women were photographed and escorted
away. Northern newspapers reported the nonsense
and other promoters copied the gimmick. On another
occasion, a white-suited Pulver paraded down New
St.Petersburg
Enterprises and inditement
In 1923, in a half moon-shaped Quonset Hut at 515
22nd St. S, in St. Petersburg, Mayor Frank Fortune
Pulver opened the Chatauqua Laundry, the forerunner
of the Soft Water Laundry that became a landmark
business in the neighborhood for more than thirty
years. "I couldn't get the washing done, so I started
the Soft Water Laundry Business," he said. The busi-
ness eventually had two locations and, unlike many of
Pulver's ventures, went on to flourish for more than
30 years.
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