History of Tampa, Florida

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There is some dispute as to the origin and meaning of the name "Tampa". It is believed to mean "sticks of fire" in the language of the Calusa, a Native American tribe that once lived in the area. Other historians claim the name refers to "the place to gather sticks". "Sticks of fire" may also relate to the high concentration of lightning strikes that Tampa Bay receives every year during the hot and wet summer months. Toponymist George R. Stewart writes that the name was the result of a miscommunication between the Spanish and the Indians, the Indian word being "itimpi", meaning simply "near it". (Stewart, pg. 231).

Contents 1 European Exploration and Early History 1.1 Spanish Expeditions 1.2 English Rule 1.3 Florida Becomes a US Territory 1.4 The Birth of a Pioneer Town 2 Incorporation 3 The Civil War in Tampa 3.1 Blockade and Blockade Runners 3.2 The War Winds Down 4 Hard Times 5 Late 19th Century: Rebirth 5.1 Phosphate Discovered 5.2 Henry B. Plant and His Railroad Arrive 5.3 Ybor and the Cigar Industry 5.4 The Tampa Bay Hotel 5.5 The Spanish-American War 5.6 A Vital Period 6 Early 20th Century 6.1 Bolita & the Mob 7 Mid-to-Late 20th Century 7.1 Annexations 7.2 University of South Florida 7.3 Urban renewal and suburbanization 7.4 New Tampa Annexation 8 Early 21st century 8.1 Stormy Weather 8.2 Downtown Revitalization 9 References 10 See also 11 External links

[edit] European Exploration and Early History

[edit] Spanish Expeditions

Whatever its origins, the name first appears in the "Memoir" of Hernando de Escalante Fontaneda (1575), who had spent 17 years as a Calusa captive. He calls it "Tanpa" and describes it as an important Calusa town. While "Tanpa" is the apparent basis for the modern name "Tampa", archaeologist Jerald Milanich places the Calusa village of Tanpa at the mouth of Charlotte Harbor, the original "Bay of Tanpa". A later Spanish expedition failed to notice Charlotte Harbor while sailing north along the west coast of Florida and assumed that today's Tampa Bay was the bay that they had sought. Thus, the name was accidentally transferred north.^[1]

In April of 1528, the ill-fated Narváez Expedition landed near Tampa with the intention of starting a colony. After being told by the natives of better riches to the north, they abandoned their camp after only a week. A dozen years later, a surviving member of the expedition named Juan Ortiz was rescued by Hernando de Soto's expedition.^[2]

A peace treaty was conducted with the local Tocobaga Indians and a short-lived Spanish outpost was established, but this was abandoned when it became clear that there was no gold in the area, and that the local Indians were not interested in converting to Catholicism and were too skilled as warriors to easily conquer.

The Tampa area would be effectively ignored by its colonial owners for the next 200+ years.

[edit] English Rule

Great Britain acquired Florida in 1763 as part of the treaty which ended the French and Indian War (Seven Years War). The bay was renamed Hillsborough Bay, after Lord Hillsborough, Secretary of State for the Colonies, whose name still adorns Tampa's largest river and home county. Britain was more concerned with the strategically important Atlantic coast of Florida (especially St. Augustine) than the mostly empty Gulf coast, and the Tampa area was by and large disregarded again.

With the native population having died from disease long before and the Seminoles still living to the north, the only (seasonal) residents of the Tampa Bay area were Cuban fishermen. These visitors stayed in temporary settlements along the shore, catching a large haul of fish from the teeming waters of the bay to take back and sell.^[3]

[edit] Florida Becomes a US Territory

Spain regained control of Florida in 1783 as part of the Treaty of Paris at the end of the American Revolution. Once again, the Tampa area was not a vital concern to its European owner.

The United States purchased Florida in 1821 (see Adams-Onís Treaty), mainly to stem the tide of escaped slaves fleeing to the wilds of Florida from neighboring states. In fact, one of the first official U.S. actions in the new territory was a raid which destroyed Angola, a village built by escaped slaves on the shores of Tampa Bay.^[4]

[edit] The Birth of a Pioneer Town

The Treaty of Moultrie Creek (1823) created a large Indian reservation in the interior of the peninsular Florida. As part of efforts to establish control over the vast swampy wilderness, the U.S. government built a series of forts and trading posts throughout the new territory.

"Cantonment Brooke" was established in 1823 by Colonels George Mercer Brooke and James Gadsden at the mouth of the Hillsborough River on Tampa Bay, just about where today's Tampa Convention Center sits in Downtown Tampa. The site was marked by a huge hickory tree set atop an ancient Indian mound most likely built by the Tocobaga culture centuries before. Colonel Brooke, the outpost's first commander, directed his troops to clear the area for the construction of a wooden log fort and support buildings, but ordered that several ancient live oak trees inside the encampment be spared to provide shade and cheer.^[5] In 1824, the post was officially christened Fort Brooke.

A few settlers established homesteads near the palisade, but growth was very slow due to difficult pioneer conditions and the constant threat of attack from the Seminole Indian population, some of whom lived nearby in an uneasy truce. In December of 1835, troops led by Major Francis L. Dade were ambushed by on their way from Fort Brooke to Fort King (near present-day Ocala) in a rout that was dubbed the Dade Massacre. The Second Seminole War had begun.

During the war, Fort Brooke first served as a refuge for frightened settlers, then as a vital military depot and staging area. After almost seven long years of vicious fighting, the war was over and the Seminoles were forced away from the Tampa region. The tiny village of Tampa soon began to grow up.

Historical populations
Census	Pop.		%±
1850	974		—
1870	796		—
1880	720		-9.5%
1890	5,532		668.3%
1900	15,839		186.3%
1910	37,782		138.5%
1920	51,608		36.6%
1930	101,161		96.0%
1940	108,391		7.1%
1950	124,681		15.0%
1960	274,970		120.5%
1970	277,714		1.0%
1980	271,523		-2.2%
1990	280,015		3.1%
2000	303,447		8.4%
Est. 2006	334,550		10.2%

[edit] Incorporation

A strong hurricane in late September of 1848 almost washed away the budding growth. Every building in Tampa was either damaged or destroyed, including most of Fort Brooke. Much of the population stayed to rebuild, and some desperate lobbying in Washington, DC persuaded the US Army to reconsider a plan to abandon the fort and its garrison of troops.^[6]

The Territory of Florida had grown enough by 1845 to become the 27th state. The settlement of Tampa recovered enough by 1849 to incorporate as the "Village of Tampa", which official occurred on January 18. At the time, Tampa was home to 185 inhabitants, excluding military personnel stationed at Fort Brooke. The city's first official census count in 1850 listed Tampa-Fort Brooke as having 974 residents.^[7] Tampa was reincorporated as a town on December 15, 1855, and Judge Joseph B. Lancaster became the first Mayor in 1856.^[8][9]

[edit] The Civil War in Tampa

On January 10th, 1861, the state of Florida seceded from the United States along with the rest of the American South to form the Confederate States of America, touching off the American Civil War. Fort Brooke was soon manned by Confederate troops and martial law was declared in Tampa in January of 1862. Tampa's city government ceased to operate for the duration of the war.^[10]

[edit] Blockade and Blockade Runners

In late 1861, the Union navy set up a blockade near the mouth of Tampa Bay as part of an overall campaign to cut off the Confederacy from outside sources of money and supplies. However, several local blockade runners consistently slipped out undetected to the Gulf of Mexico. Most notable (though not most successful) among these was former Tampa mayor James McKay Sr., who delivered Florida cattle and citrus to Spanish Cuba in exchange for gold and supplies before being captured and imprisoned by Union forces.^[11] (McKay Bay, the portion of Tampa Bay adjoining the port, is named in his honor.)

Trying to put a stop to this, Union gunboats sailed up Tampa Bay to bombard Fort Brooke and the surrounding city of Tampa. The Battle of Tampa on June 30-July 1, 1862 was inconclusive, as the shells fell ineffectually and there were no casualties on either side.^[12][13]

Much more damaging to the Confederate cause was the Battle of Fort Brooke on October 17-18, 1863. The Union gunboats U.S.S. Adela and U.S.S. Tahoma came up the bay and, after firing at the fort, landed troops near the town. The Union forces headed a few miles up the Hillsborough River until they found the hidden blockade runners Scottish Chief and Kate Dale near present-day Lowry Park Zoo and burned them at their moorings.^[14] The local militia was mustered to intercept the Union troops, but the raiders were able to return to their ships after a short skirmish and headed back out to sea.

[edit] The War Winds Down

In May of 1864, the Adela returned, bringing Union forces to occupy Fort Brooke itself. Not finding enough justification to stay, they left after two days.^[14]

The war ended in Confederate defeat the following spring, 1865. In May, federal troops arrived in Tampa to occupy the fort and the town as part of Reconstruction. They would remain until August, 1869.^[14]

[edit] Hard Times

The years after the Civil War were difficult ones in Tampa. With little industry and land transportation links limited to bumpy wagon roads from the east coast of Florida, Tampa was a small fishing village with poor prospects for development.

Yellow fever had always been a threat in early Tampa, but the disease hit with terrifying regularlity throughout the late 1860s and 1870s. Borne by mosquitos from the surrounding swampland, Tampa was hit by wave after wave of yellow fever epidemics and scares throughout the period ^[15]. The disease was little understood at the time, and some residents simply packed up and left rather than face the mysterious and deadly peril.

The after-effects of the Civil War, disease, and disinterest put Tampa into a slow downward spiral. Conditions in the city deteriorated to the point that residents voted to temporarily disincorporate the city in 1869 ^[16]. However, it would reincorporate in 1872. As a result, Tampa's population fell from approximately 885 in 1861^[17] to 796 in 1870 and 720 in 1880.

Another blow was to come. Fort Brooke, the seed from which Tampa had germinated, had served its purpose and was decommissioned in 1883. Except for two cannons displayed on the nearby University of Tampa campus, all traces of the fort are gone. In an odd nod to history, a large downtown parking garage near the old fort site is called the Fort Brooke Parking Garage.^[18]

[edit] Late 19th Century: Rebirth

[edit] Phosphate Discovered

Phosphate, a mineral used to make fertilizers and other products, was discovered in the Bone Valley region southeast of Tampa in 1883. Soon, the mining and shipping of phosphate became important area industries. Tampa's port still ships millions of tons of phosphate annually, and the area is known as the "phosphate capital of the world."^[19]

[edit] Henry B. Plant and His Railroad Arrive

Transportation magnate Henry B. Plant's railroad line reached Tampa and its port shortly thereafter, connecting the small town to the country's railroad system. Tampa finally had the overland transportation link that had been so sorely lacking. The railroad enabled phosphate and commercial fishing exports to go north ^[20], brought many new products into the Tampa market, and started the first real tourist industry: visitors coming in modest numbers to Henry Plant's first Tampa-area hotels.

Plant's St. Elmo Inn and Port Tampa Inn were built at the end of his rail line in the newly created suburb of Port Tampa. The Port Tampa Inn was larger and had the distinction of being constructed directly on the bay on stilts.^[21]

Both of these early hotels are long gone, and the independent town of Port Tampa was annexed into Tampa in 1961.^[21]

[edit] Ybor and the Cigar Industry

The new railroad link enabled another important industry to come to Tampa. In 1885, the Tampa Board of Trade helped broker a land deal with Vicente Martinez Ybor to move his cigar manufacturing operations to Tampa from Key West. Close proximity to Cuba made imports of tobacco easy by sea, and Plant's railroad made shipment of finished cigars to the rest of the US market easy by land.

Since Tampa was still a small town at the time (population less than 5,000), Ybor built hundreds of small houses around his factory to accommodate the immediate influx of mainly Cuban and Spanish cigar workers. Other cigar factories soon moved in, and Ybor City (as the 40-odd acre settlement was dubbed) quickly made Tampa a major cigar production center. To round out the town's population, many Italian and a few eastern European Jewish immigrants also arrived starting in the late 1880s, mainly operating businesses and shops that catered to the cigar workers. The majority of Italian immigrants came from Alessandria Della Rocca and Santo Stefano Quisquina, two small Sicilian towns with which Tampa still maintains strong ties.

Some cigar factories also opened nearby in West Tampa, which thrived as a separate municipality until it was annexed by Tampa in 1925.^[22][23]

[edit] The Tampa Bay Hotel

In 1891, Henry B. Plant built a lavish 500+ room, quarter-mile long luxury resort hotel called the Tampa Bay Hotel among 150 acres (0.6 km²) of manicured gardens along the banks of the Hillsborough River. The eclectic structure cost $2.5 million to build, a huge sum in those days. Plant filled his expensive playground with exotic art collectables from around the world and installed electric lights and the first elevator in Florida.^[24]

The resort did great business for a few years, especially during the Spanish-American War (see below). But with Plant's death in 1899, the hotel's fortunes began to fade. The city of Tampa purchased the resort in 1905 and used it for community events, including the first state fair^[25]. It was finally closed 1930. In 1933, however, the stately building reopened as the University of Tampa.

[edit] The Spanish-American War

Mainly because of Henry Plant's connections in the War Department, Tampa was chosen as an embarkation center for American troops in the Spanish-American War. Lieutenant Colonel Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders were among the 30,000 troops who waited in Tampa for the order to ship out to Cuba during the summer of 1898, filling the town to bursting ^[26].

Those months, while unpleasant for the troops wearing thick wool uniforms in the oppressive Florida heat, were a great boon to Tampa's growing economy. It was also the only time when Plant's Tampa Bay Hotel was full to capacity as army officers and newspaper correspondents sought out more comfortable quarters than a hot and dusty tent.^[27]

The war was also very popular in Ybor City. Many of the Cuban cigar workers had long pressed for Cuba Libre - a Cuba free of Spanish colonial rule. Leaders like Jose Marti (who had been killed in earlier fighting in Cuba against Spain) had come to Tampa many times to raise money and volunteers for the cause. With the U.S. entering the war to fight against Spain, it seemed that their dreams would soon be realized. ^[28]

[edit] A Vital Period

The founding of Ybor City, the building of Plant's railroad and hotels, and the discovery of phosphate - all within 10 years - were crucial to Tampa's future development and its very survival. The town suddenly expanded from a dying backwater village to a bustling town to a small city. Except for temporary bumps along the way, this growth has continued unabatted.

[edit] Early 20th Century

During the first few decades of the 20th century, the cigar making industry continued to be the backbone of Tampa's economy. The factories in Ybor City and West Tampa made an enormous number of cigars -- in the peak year of 1929, over 500,000,000 cigars were hand rolled in the city.^[29] As the market for cigars began to wane during the Great Depression, other industries came to the fore, especially shipping and, of course, tourism.

In 1904, a local civic association of local businessmen dubbed themselves Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla (named after local mythical pirate Jose Gaspar), and staged an "invasion" of the city followed by a parade. With a few exceptions, the Gasparilla Pirate Festival has been held every year since.

[edit] Bolita & the Mob

Beginning in the late 1800s, illegal bolita lotteries were very popular among the Tampa working classes, especially in Ybor City. In the early 1920s, this small-time operation was taken over by Charlie Wall, the rebellious son of a prominent Tampa family, and went big-time. Bolita was able to openly thrive only because of kick-backs and bribes to key local politicians and law enforcement officials, and many were on the take.

Profits from the bolita lotteries and Prohibition-era bootlegging led to the development of several organized crime factions in the city. Charlie Wall was the first major boss, but various power struggles culminated in consolidation of control by Sicilian mafioso Santo Trafficante, Sr. and his faction in the 1950s. After his death in 1954 from cancer, control passed to his son Santo Trafficante, Jr., who established alliances with families in New York and extended his power throughout Florida and into Batista-era Cuba.^[30][31]

The era of rampant and open corruption ended in the 1950s, when the Senator Kefauver's traveling organized crime hearings came to town and were followed by the sensational misconduct trials of several local officials. Though many of the worse offenders in government and the mob were not charged, the trials helped to end the sense of lawlessness which had prevailed in Tampa for a long time.

[edit] Mid-to-Late 20th Century

During the Great Depression, WPA projects were underway which include Peter O. Knight Airport, near Davis Island and Drew Field (later named Tampa International Airport). During World War II, MacDill Air Field opened up for military operations.

[edit] Annexations

Tampa remained a compact city with a land area of 19 square miles (49 km²) until the mid-1950s.^[32][33][34] It's northernmost boundary was the Hillsborough River, in the northern part of Seminole Heights.^[35]

In 1953, the city annexed over 60 square miles (160 km²) of unincorporated land, including the communities of Sulphur Springs and Palma Ceia. As a result, Tampa grew rapidly, growing by 150,289 residents during the 1950s.^[36] The growth also reflected on the city's national ranking. Tampa jumped from 85th in 1950^[34] to 48th in 1960,^[37] it's peak ranking to date.

Overall, most of the annexed communities were unincorporated but five incorporated places were consolidated into Tampa: North Tampa (1885),^[38] Ybor City (1885),^[38] Fort Brooke (1907),^[38] West Tampa (1925),^[38] and Port Tampa City (1961).^[38]

[edit] University of South Florida

The University of South Florida was established in 1956, sparking development in northern Tampa and nearby Temple Terrace. Busch Gardens theme park opened in 1959.

[edit] Urban renewal and suburbanization

With growth came problems. With suburbanization and urban renewal programs on the horizon, Downtown Tampa began deteriorating and many industries began to move to the suburban areas. Park Tower, opened in 1973, would be the city's only substantial skyscraper (460 feet/36 stories) until the building boom of the 1980s. In the midst of this, a race riot plagued the city on June 11, 1967.^[39] The combination of the decline of the cigar industry and the construction of Interstates 4 and 275 further deteriorated historic areas such as Ybor City and West Tampa.^[40][41]

There were four attempts to consolidate Tampa with Hillsborough County (1967, 1970, 1971, and 1972). All of which failed at the ballot box with the biggest margin was 33,160 for and 73,568 against the proposed charter in 1972. ^[42]

These events also reflected on the city's population growth. Tampa grew very slowly in the 1960s to reach 277,714 in 1970. However, further problems in the 1970s lead to the first decline of the city's population in a century, falling to 271,523 in 1980. Tampa's national ranking dropped from 50th in 1970^[43] to 53rd in 1980.^[44] In contrast, suburban areas such as Brandon, Carrollwood, and other areas of Hillsborough County experienced rapid growth.

[edit] New Tampa Annexation

The biggest development of the city was the development of New Tampa that started in 1988 when the city annexed a 24-square mile (mostly rural) area between I-275 and I-75, increasing the total land area from 84 square miles (218 km²)^[44] to nearly 109.^[45] Despite this, the city only grew three percent in the 1980s to reach 280,015 in 1990.

[edit] Early 21st century

On January 5, 2002, just four months after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, 15-year-old amateur pilot Charles Bishop flew a Cessna plane into the 42-story Bank of America Plaza building in downtown Tampa. Bishop died, but there were no other injuries (because the crash occurred on a Saturday, when few people were in the building). A suicide note found in the wreckage expressed support for Osama bin Laden. Bishop had been taking a prescription medicine for acne called Accutane that may have had the side effect of depression or severe psychosis. His family later sued Hoffman-La Roche, the company that makes Accutane, for $70 million; however, an autopsy found no traces of the drug in the teenager's system.

[edit] Stormy Weather

The 2004 Atlantic Hurricane Season was historically busy for all of Florida, including Tampa. Tampa was affected by a record four hurricanes that year; Frances, Jeanne, Charley, and to a lesser extent, Ivan.

The eyes of both Jeanne and Frances passed within a few miles of Tampa as they slashed their way across the state from the east coast. Charley was forecast to make a direct hit on Tampa Bay from the south (the worst-case scenario for local flooding). But the storm made a sudden and unexpected turn to the northeast and brought only tropical storm force winds to Tampa, devastating the Ft. Myers/Port Charlotte area instead. Ivan roared past the Florida gulf coast on its way to landfall near the Alabama/Florida border, passing near enough to bring high seas and stormy conditions to the Tampa area.

[edit] Downtown Revitalization

Current Tampa mayor Pam Iorio has made the redevelopment of Tampa's downtown, especially bringing in residents to the decidedly non-residential area, a priority.^[46] Several residential and mixed-development high-rises are in various stages of planning or construction, and a few have already opened. Another of Mayor Iorio's initiatives is the Tampa Riverwalk, a plan which intends to make better use of the land along the Hillsborough River in downtown where Tampa began. Several museums are part of the plan, including the Tampa Bay History Center, the Tampa Children's Museum, and a new Tampa Museum of Art. ^[47]

[edit] References

[edit] See also

Other articles which contain relevant history sections.

• History of Florida
• Ybor City
• Mayors of Tampa, Florida
• History of Brandon
• Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office

Articles on specific events in Tampa history

• Great Gale of 1848
• Battle of Fort Brooke
• Battle of Tampa
• Tampa Bay Hurricane of 1921
• Tampa Riots
• 2002 Tampa plane crash

Other articles of interest

• Tampa-Fort Brooke, a single census unit recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau in 1850.

[edit] External links

• Tampa Bay History Center
• Tampa Bay History Collection, includes historical photographs (University of South Florida)

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