08/31/2026
🕰️ HISTORY BENEATH YOUR FEET: THE TERRAZZO COURTS
In 1934, the St. Petersburg Shuffleboard Club was booming. Membership numbered in the thousands, and to keep up with its growing popularity, 45 new courts were built on the east side—helping bring the Club to an incredible 103 courts total.
They were all made of terrazzo. Terrazzo itself was growing in popularity across America, and those smooth, gleaming courts must have looked remarkably modern.
Unfortunately, beautiful didn’t mean practical. Terrazzo proved to not be a good playing surface. Florida’s changing climate took its toll, and just a few years later in 1937, the Club began replacing the terrazzo with concrete.
But seven courts survived.
And rather than disappearing, they simply evolved with the Club. Over the decades, they became gathering spaces with picnic tables, and even courts for a shuffleboard variation called “bank.” In 2009, they took on yet another role when a wooden event deck was built over them.
A decade later, when that deck needed replacing, the Club wondered: Could the original courts underneath be saved?
They could.
In 2019—85 years after first building them—Steward-Mellon Co. returned to the Club to repair and polish its original terrazzo back to life.
Today, those seven courts still shine on the east side of the clubhouse—a little piece of 1934 St. Petersburg hiding in plain sight, and one more chapter of Club history passed from one generation of members to the next.
Special thanks to Cycle Brewing, whose generous support made the restoration of the terrazzo courts possible in 2019.
