West Tampa is one of the oldest neighborhoods within the city limits of
Tampa
Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough County ...
,
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
, United States. It was an independently
incorporated city from 1895 until 1925, when it was annexed by Tampa.
![West Tampa circa](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/West_Tampa_circa._1895_01.jpg)
West Tampa is located west of the
Hillsborough River approximately 1 mile from
downtown
''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...
. As of the 2000
census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...
, the district had a population of 22,008. It has consistently been home to one of the highest concentration of
Latino
Latino or Latinos most often refers to:
* Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America
* Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States
* The people or cultures of Latin America;
** Latin A ...
s in the city since its founding in 1892.
History
Establishment and early history
West Tampa was founded in 1892 by Scottish immigrant and local attorney Hugh Macfarlane, who bought 200 acres of forested land with the intention of starting a new development by luring some of the cigar factories and cigar workers from
Ybor City
Ybor City ( ) is a historic neighborhood just northeast of downtown Tampa, downtown Tampa, Florida, United States. It was founded in the 1880s by Vicente Martinez-Ybor and other cigar manufacturers and populated by thousands of immigrants, mainly ...
, a very successful new immigrant community on the northeast side of Tampa.
West Tampa's initial growth was stunted by transportation issues. The first cigar factory built in the area was forced to close temporarily because workers refused to ride a ferry across the
Hillsborough River to the "wilds" of West Tampa.
Macfarlane had built a bridge and connected West Tampa to Tampa's extensive
streetcar
A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...
line by 1894, spurring a period of tremendous growth. Many of these new residents had not come over from Ybor City; most were
Cuban immigrants who settled in West Tampa soon after arriving in the United States. Accordingly, the community was almost exclusivity Cuban during the first several years of its existence. A gradual influx of
Italians
, flag =
, flag_caption = The national flag of Italy
, population =
, regions = Italy 55,551,000
, region1 = Brazil
, pop1 = 25–33 million
, ref1 =
, region2 ...
and
Spaniards
Spaniards, or Spanish people, are a Romance peoples, Romance ethnic group native to Spain. Within Spain, there are a number of National and regional identity in Spain, national and regional ethnic identities that reflect the country's complex Hist ...
, mainly from Ybor City, gradually made the cultural mix of the two communities more similar over time.
West Tampa was incorporated as a city in 1895 with a population of 2,335, making it the 2nd largest
Hispanic
The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad.
The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...
community in the state. By 1900, it had more inhabitants than
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
's capital city of
Tallahassee
Tallahassee ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2020, the population ...
and was the second largest city in
Hillsborough County, behind only Tampa. The neighboring communities combined to produce more hand-rolled cigars than any other locale in the world during the early 20th century, earning Tampa the nickname "Cigar City".
The first
public library
A public library is a library that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil service, civil servants.
There are ...
in Hillsborough County, the
West Tampa Free Public Library ''For other Carnegie Libraries, see Carnegie library (disambiguation)''
The West Tampa Free Public Library, more recently the West Tampa Branch Library, is a historic building in the West Tampa National Historic District in Tampa, Florida. , opened on
Howard Avenue in 1914. Construction of the
Neo-classical revivalist style brick building was funded with a $17,500 grant from
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie (, ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and became one of the richest Americans i ...
.
The West Tampa Library was restored and expanded in 2004 and is still in use.
West Tampa Police Department
During its incorporated life, West Tampa operated the West Tampa Police Department. It was absorbed by the Tampa Police Department in 1925.
One officer was killed in its short history. On July 18, 1920, Patrolman Juan Nales and another officer were walking a man they arrested to jail when the suspect attacked. The suspect gained control of Nales's gun and fatally shot him. The suspect was captured after fleeing and subsequently convicted of murder.
Annexation
As the years progressed, the connections between West Tampa and Ybor City grew stronger. Most "Latins" (as Tampa's mix of Spanish, Cuban, and Italian cultures is locally known) had family and friends in both of the neighboring towns. Many people lived in one community and worked in the other.
Ybor City's social clubs regularly held large picnics,
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...
games, and other events at West Tampa's spacious MacFarlane Park. Some of the clubs built elaborate branch locations for their West Tampa members, further uniting the two increasingly homogeneous districts.
The boundaries between West Tampa and "
Anglo
Anglo is a prefix indicating a relation to, or descent from, the Angles, England, English culture, the English people or the English language, such as in the term '' Anglosphere''. It is often used alone, somewhat loosely, to refer to people ...
Tampa" also blurred as the larger city grew west and south until its
suburb
A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...
s bumped against the edges of West Tampa. The process concluded in 1925, when West Tampa was formally annexed by the city of Tampa.
Neighborhood
As Ybor City faded and emptied out after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, many of its residents moved to West Tampa, making it the largest predominantly Latin neighborhood in town. While the same
factors that destroyed Ybor City's cigar industry also affected West Tampa, the latter community had enough economic variety to survive when the cigar factories either became totally mechanized or shut down altogether.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, West Tampa received another large influx of Cuban immigrants as they fled
Castro's revolution.
With very few jobs remaining in the cigar industry by that era, new arrivals found work in various other sectors.
As of 2017, the neighborhood has many
Colombian cuisine
Colombian cuisine is a compound of the culinary traditions of the six main regions within Colombia (Pacific, Amazonian, Andean, Orinoco, Caribbean, and Insular). Colombian cuisine varies regionally and is particularly influenced by Indigenous C ...
and small
Cuban
Cuban may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Cuba, a country in the Caribbean
* Cubans, people from Cuba, or of Cuban descent
** Cuban exile, a person who left Cuba for political reasons, or a descendant thereof
* Cuban citizen, a perso ...
and Puerto Rican eateries and ethnic markets, mostly along main roads such as
Columbus Drive,
Armenia Avenue,
Howard Avenue, Main Street, and Tampa Bay Boulevard. Most of the large brick cigar factory buildings still stand, but none are still used for their original purpose. Some have been renovated and remodeled for office space and other uses, while others have been vacant for years. A few cigars are still rolled in smaller shops and storefronts.
While poverty and urban decay have been problematic issues in West Tampa since the 1970s,
the district has garnered renewed interest and appreciation for its history and culture. The area saw increasing levels of investment, restoration, and new construction beginning in the 2000s.
Redevelopment stalled during the
2008 recession, but resumed several years later with several projects including new apartments, renovation and overhaul of Julian Lane Waterfront Park, and demolition of several city blocks of older
public housing
Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, def ...
to be replaced with new townhome construction.
Description
The historical boundaries of West Tampa are the
Hillsborough River and Rome Avenue to the east, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd (formerly Buffalo Ave.) to the north, Kennedy Blvd. (formerly Grand Central Ave.) to the south, and
Dale Mabry Highway
Dale Mabry Highway is a north–south road in Tampa, Florida. The majority of its length consists of three lanes each direction plus a central turn-lane and often includes a right-turn lane. It begins at the MacDill Air Force Base entrance in ...
to the west. The
West Tampa Historic District encompasses much of this area, and
Interstate 275, built in the 1960s, runs through the approximate center of the neighborhood. The land area of the district is about 10 square miles (about 26 km
2).
Demographics
As of the census
of 2000, there were 22,008 people, 9,277 households, and 9,908 housing units residing in West Tampa. The racial makeup of the district was 73.7%
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
, 11.3%
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
, 0.4%
Native American, 2.5%
Asian
Asian may refer to:
* Items from or related to the continent of Asia:
** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia
** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia
** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
and
Pacific Islander
Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe the original p ...
, 8.4% from
other races
Other often refers to:
* Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy
Other or The Other may also refer to:
Film and television
* ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack
* ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...
, and 3.8% from two or more races. 51.6% of the population were
Hispanic
The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad.
The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...
or
Latino
Latino or Latinos most often refers to:
* Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America
* Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States
* The people or cultures of Latin America;
** Latin A ...
of any race.
In West Tampa, the population was spread out, with 6% Under 5 Years; 5.5% 5 to 9 Years; 10.8% 10 to 19 Years; 32.0% 20 to 39 Years; 22.7% 40 to 59 Years; 17.2% 60 to 79 Years; 3.3% 80 Years and Over. Out of every 100 females residing in the district, there were 93 males.
Areas within West Tampa
Distinct areas within the West Tampa district are
Bowman Heights,
Marina Club,
Northeast Macfarlane, and
Old West Tampa
Old West Tampa is a neighborhood within the city limits of Tampa, Florida. As of the 2010 census, the neighborhood had a population of 2,014. The ZIP code serving the neighborhood is 33607. The neighborhood is located in the heart of the West Tamp ...
.
References
External links
West Tampa Chamber of Commerce*
{{Authority control
Neighborhoods in Tampa, Florida
History of Tampa, Florida
Cuban-American history
Cuban-American culture in Tampa, Florida
Italian-American culture in Tampa, Florida
Spanish-American culture in Tampa, Florida
Spanish communities in the United States
Former municipalities in Florida