Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

On this day in 1959, Busch Gardens opened in Tampa.

… beer-brewer Anheuser - Busch started up a beer garden (with free beer) and a bird show at the front of its new brewery in Tampa. It opened on March 31, 1959 as an admission-free hospitality facility for the Tampa Anheuser-Busch brewery on the grounds of the manufacturing plant. Visitors could watch bird shows and animal acts in a tropical setting and before leaving the grounds entered a beer garden offering free Busch beer to drink. Hundreds of exotic birds filled the fully interactive Bird Gardens, all for free admission.

Just as it is today, the birds roamed free, where the guests were free to pet them. Millions visited, and in a stroke of brilliance wildlife-lover August A. Busch Jr. added the 29-acre Serengeti Plains in 1965 (eventually expanded to 70 acres.) The gigantic Serengeti Plain allowed the African wildlife to roam freely and became the largest, free-roaming habitat outside of Africa. It remains one of the most unique features of the park to this day and has received numerous upgrades and expansions.

So Happy Birthday, Busch Gardens.

In addition to the TampaPix presentation of old images of Busch Gardens, Check the official Busch Gardens Tampa Bay website, and the unofficial Busch Gardens fan site, BGTGuide. Don’t forget, the new Jungala section opens this weekend.

I suppose you will hear more about a Busch Gardens Birthday next year, when they turn 50.

I read this somewhere - I think it may have been in Cigar City Mafia by Scott Deitche.

• March 27, 1957: A fire breaks out at Broadway Icehouse. 141 sticks of dynamite are found in the walls and attic. They were wired to go off when a) a train passed a nearby switch or b) the ice machine turned on or c) neither.

I thought it was an interesting note. Unfortunately, I could find nothing online to confirm the story.

By the way, Scott is releasing a new book in the next couple weeks: The Silent Don: The Criminal Underworld of Santo Trafficante Jr.

Vicente Martinez Ybor’s friend and business competitor, Ignacia Haya opened Tampa’s first cigar factory on March 26, 1888.

I hope my gay friends will forgive me.

She was born on March 25, 1940. Miss Oklahoma 1958 finished third in the Miss America pageant in 1959. She moved to Miami Beach where beginning in 1969 she would tell millions that “A day without Orange Juice is like a day without Sunshine.” Of course, she also wanted to “Save Our Children from Homo-sexuality.” That last part really screwed her. In addition to getting a banana cream pie to the face (video with popup ads), her career - her life, really - was deservedly crushed. She ended up filing for bankruptcy all over our great nation.

36 years ago…

January 26, 1971 – Edward Mueller, Florida’s Secretary of Transportation, recommends the Courtney Campbell Parkway bridges closed to vehicles and boats using the draw spans, calling the bridge “dreadful” and “among the most horrible in Florida.”

Courtesy of the Tampa Bay History Center.

51 years ago…

January 25, 1956 – Elizabeth Spencer Ferman, a member of the pioneer Tampa family, dies at 73. Ferman was the mother of W.F. Ferman, Jr., and widow of W.F. Ferman, as well as the sister of William C. Spencer, a three-time sheriff of Hillsborough County.

Courtesy of the Tampa Bay History Center.

66 years ago…

January 24, 1941 – President Roosevelt grants initial approval for a nearly $5 million Works Project Administration sewer system initiative in Tampa.

Courtesy of the Tampa Bay History Center.

51 years ago…

January 23, 1956 – William Edward Culbreath, produce broker and member of the prominent Hillsborough County pioneer family, dies at 72.

Courtesy of the Tampa Bay History Center.