The original Florida International Museum opened in 1995 in a former Maas Brothers department store and featured traveling blockbuster exhibitions, including "Treasures of the Czars" in 1995,[1] "Splendors of Ancient Egypt" in 1996, "Alexander The Great" in 1996, "Titanic" in 1998, "Empire of Mystery" in 1999, "John F. Kennedy, The Exhibition" in 1999 - 2000 and "Diana, a Celebration" in 2005.

[2] In 2006 the museum moved to a smaller space in St. Petersburg College's Downtown Center.

The original museum's final special exhibit was "Vatican Splendors" in 2008.

The museum became a part of St. Petersburg College later in 2008, and was retitled.

The contemporary Florida art collections of the now-defunct Gulf Coast Museum of Art became part of the Florida International Museum at St. Petersburg College in 2009.