Construction of City of Tampa Water Filtration facility, 7100 30th Street : Tampa, Fla.

Courtesy, Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System

About this photograph

Photograph Order Number

PA 13247

Negative Number

77616-2

Date

March 2, 1961

Creator

Burgert Brothers

Publisher

Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library

Date of Photographic Print

1933 printing

Source (original item)

1 photograph : b&w ; 21 x 26 cm. +1 negative (21 x 26 cm.)

Format

JPEG2000

General Notes

Neg. no. 77616-2; taken March 2, 1961.;

Subjects

Tampa in the 1960s

By the early 60s, Tampa was caught between its cigar-city past and whatever came next. Interstate 4 cut straight through Ybor City in 1963, splitting the old neighborhood in two. Downtown boosters pushed urban renewal to keep Tampa a business town — under Mayor Julian Lane (1959–63) the city kicked off the Maryland Avenue project, paved 200-plus miles of streets, upgraded the sewers, and annexed Port Tampa in 1961. The state created the expressway authority in 1963 to plan a toll road system. And one quiet milestone: Al and Jean Burgert's studio, photographing Tampa since 1918, closed its doors in 1963. These early-1960s photographs are among the last of the Burgert era — a final look at the cigar city before interstates and urban renewal redrew it.

Sources: Burgert Brothers Collection History and Preservation (Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library); Julian Barnes Lane - 48th Mayor (City of Tampa); THEA: 61 Years of Serving Tampa Bay (Tampa Hillsborough Expressway Authority); From Annexation to Urban Renewal: Urban Development in Tampa during the 1950s and 1960s (Tampa Bay History via USF Digital Commons)