Katherine Bell Tippetts

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Katherine Bell Tippetts, born Emily Katherine Bell (March 11, 1865 – December 20, 1950), was an American businesswoman, clubwoman, and conservationist who lived in St. Petersburg, Florida. She moved to Florida in 1902 and ran the Belmont Hotel.

In 1909 she founded the St. Petersburg chapter of the National Audubon Society and led it for more than 30 years, using her hotel to host the group’s meetings. She became the first woman president of the Florida Audubon Society, serving from 1920 to 1924. Tippetts helped create wildlife sanctuaries across Florida, supported the Migratory Bird Act of 1913, and worked to protect the American robin and holly plants. She also helped form the Florida Fish and Game Commission.

In 1915, under her leadership, St. Petersburg became one of the first cities to tax cat owners to control stray cats. She held many leadership roles in clubs and organizations, including chairing the Nature Study and Wildlife Refuges committee (1924–1928) and the Division of Conservation (1928–1932) for the General Federation of Women’s Clubs. She was president of the Florida Federation of Women’s Clubs (1926–1928), vice president of the American Forestry Association, and as part of the Crippled Children’s Guild helped found a children’s hospital in 1926. She organized the city’s first Boy Scout troop and named a local lake.

Tippetts was among the first two women to run for a seat in the Florida legislature in 1922. She worked with May Mann Jennings on federation projects and led the Florida Legislative Council and the Florida Chamber of Commerce. She also wrote under the pen name Jerome Cable, publishing the novel Prince Arengzeba: A Romance of Lake George (1892). Later, she wrote Birds of the States (1932) for schools.

She died in St. Petersburg in 1950 at age 85. A park in the city is named in her memory.