100 years ago… April 30, 1906 – The Tampa Tribune reports that “youthful desperadoes” were tormenting residents of Tampa’s Hyde Park neighborhood. A “gang of bad boys” had, for the past few nights, committed “all manner of outrages against property,” including slashing automobile tires and throwing rocks. Some residents knew who some of the boys were and [...]
95 years ago… April 29, 1911 – Frank Bower, president of Tampa’s Board of Trade, claims that Hillsborough County is “safe” from being broken up, stating, “I am confident that the bill to divide Hillsborough County will never get past the [State] House [of Representatives].” Bower was wrong, and Pinellas County was created from Hillsborough County the [...]
After last night’s game, it’s obvious this needs to be finished in order to remain even vaguely pertinent. Miss Vicky (you’ll remember her earlier offhand remarks) got some further information for us about the capital of Canada. I’ll include Tampa’s info for a comparison. According to the city of Ottawa, population in the city was 774,072 as of [...]
No one is going to confuse New Tampa with Haight-Ashbury. But I am now prepared to say that my neighbors are a bit more proactive than I first gave them credit. Maybe I’ll eat a little sourdough with my crow for effect. When I headed for work on Monday morning I was faced with heavier than [...]
105 years ago… April 28, 1901 – Tampa’s Peninsula Telephone Company announces plans to extend long-distance telephone service down to Braidentown (Bradenton) and Manatee within the next six months. The company accomplished this by buying up the service in those areas and consolidating them into their own. Courtesy of the Tampa Bay History Center.
If Seinfeld (the show) was a newspaper column. Or a blog post.
Born in Georgia in 1898, Herbert D. Carrington, Sr. passed away this week. Mr. Carrington came to Tampa in 1917. Dude helped build the original Gandy Bridge in 1921. He was then a chauffer for the Dupree family. He also was maitre d’ of the Tampa Yacht Club for almost 60 years. Last year, this living [...]
I drive the Gandy almost daily and the twin radio towers posted at the base of the bridge on the St Pete side have long been my goalposts that signal the end of the day for me. For a while now, I’ve been watching them being dismantled and chopped into pieces right next to the road. [...]
110 years ago… April 27, 1896 – Tampa’s “leading young society people” hold a ‘Trolley Party’, based on ones in northern cities. The party, which included fifty couples, toured the entire route of Tampa’s streetcar system, with stops at Ballast Point, Palmetto Beach, Ybor City and West Tampa. Courtesy of the Tampa Bay History Center.
