Fireworks over Florida State Fairgrounds : Tampa, Fla.
Photograph Order Number PA 6445
Courtesy, Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System
About this photograph
- Photograph Order Number
- PA 6445
- Negative Number
- S266
- Date
- Creator
- Burgert Brothers
- Publisher
- Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library
- Date of Photographic Print
- 1985 printing
- Source (original item)
- 1 photograph : b&w ; 21 x 26 cm. +1 negative (21 x 26 cm.)
- Format
- JPEG2000
- General Notes
- Neg. no. S266; taken February, 1927.;
Subjects
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)