Guiterez Gutierrez Building, 1602 7th Ave : Tampa, Fla.

About this photograph

Photograph Order Number

PA 20728

Negative Number

23737

Date

May 14, 1927

Creator

Burgert Brothers

Publisher

Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library

Source (original item)

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

Format

JPEG2000

General Notes

Donation from USF's "Tony Pizzo Collection". Commissioned by Peter Taylor.

Subjects

Notes

Image part of the Burgert Brothers Digitization Project; to be added.

The Burgert Brothers Photographic Collection of about 19,000 images presents a unique pictorial record of the commercial, residential and social growth of Tampa Bay and Florida's West coast from the late 1800s to the early 1960s.

Tampa in the 1920s

The Roaring Twenties nearly doubled Tampa — from about 51,600 people in 1920 to over 101,000 by 1930 — and the Florida land boom is written all over these photographs. Developer D.P. Davis literally dredged up two little islands at the mouth of the Hillsborough River to build Davis Islands, announcing the plan in January 1924. Outlying spots like Sulphur Springs, Palma Ceia, and Temple Terrace took off. Bayshore was still a county brick road when the October 1921 hurricane shoved an 11-foot surge over the waterfront. Streetcars still ruled — nearly 24 million riders in 1926 — even as cars started clogging the streets. Browse this decade's photographs for the boom as it happened — new subdivisions, crowded beaches and boulevards, and a city stretching into its suburbs.

Sources: Davis Islands (City of Tampa); Ahead of its time, Davis Islands promises more than Florida sunshine (Tampa Bay History Center); Tampa Bay / Tarpon Springs Hurricane of 1921 (National Weather Service); Bayshore Boulevard: A Brief Look at its Historic Past (USF Libraries)