Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

Did you know that the City of Tampa has a neighborhood department. Yup. TheCity of Tampa Neighborhood and Community Relations mission is to “bring government closer to all people by serving as the liaison between the government and community to help Tampa thrive and shine.”

They also include a list of 104 Tampa neighborhood groups. Unfortunately, only 26 of them have a website:

• Ballast Point Neighborhood Association
• Bayshore Beautiful Homeowners Association, Inc.
• Bel Mar Gardens Neighborhood Association
• Davis Island Neighborhood Planning Task Force
• South Seminole Heights Civic Association
• Lowry Park Central Civic Association, Inc.
• Hunters Green Magnolia Chase Neighborhood Association, Inc.
• The Marina Club Of Tampa
• Davis Islands Civic Association, Inc.
• Oakford Park Neighborhood Association, Inc.
• Riverside Heights Civic Association
• The New Tampa Community Council
• Old Seminole Heights Neighborhood Association, Inc.
• Palma Ceia Neighborhood Association, Inc.
• Palmetto Beach Community Association, Inc.
• Civic Association Of Port Tampa City, Inc.
• Ridgewood Park CPCA, Inc.
• Southeast Seminole Heights Civic Association
• Sunset Park Area Homeowners Association
• Gandy/Sun Bay South Civic Association
• Swann Estates Neighborhood Association
• Tampa Heights Civic Association
• Tampa Downtown Partnership
• Temple Crest Civic Association
• The Virginia Park Residential Neighborhood Association
• Wellswood Civic Association

I grabbed them all from the city, so if there are bad links, please let me know.

Derek Reusser publishes a magazine and mails it to residents in SOG City, including Port Tampa City, Interbay, Ballast Point, and Sun Bay South.  My Gandy highlights local businesses and residents, helpful articles, and historical stories of the area.  If you are in the area, pick one up and check it out.

They even published a historical piece I wrote about a nearby place called Rattlesnake.  Because of space constraints, it had to be edited a bit, so I thought I would reprint the entire thing here on the website.  I invite you to learn a bit more about Rattlesnake, Florida.

It’s hard to imagine, but back in the day Tampa was very much like the towns you see on some of the old westerns. Hard men worked hard, drank hard, and did all they could to make a living out of anything they could find close by. Even as recently as the mid 1930’s, much of the area in and around Tampa was nothing but palmetto thickets and pine trees.

One area (now within Tampa city limits) was particularly desolate, and just filled with that hardscrabble brush. Living in the underbrush was, of course rattlesnakes. Florida has always been a haven for Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnakes, and Tampa is no exception. There were thousands and thousands of Diamondbacks in the vicinity. Most of the snakes were about six feet long, but more than a few were reported up to eight feet long.

In 1937, George End packed up his wife Jennie and his two sons, and moved from Arcadia out to this barren area. His plan was to catch the snakes and sell the meat. You wouldn’t think there would be much of a market for rattlesnake meat, but you’d be wrong. End turned his idea into a very lucrative mail-order rattlesnake meat market.

(more…)

95 years ago…

October, 9, 1911 – Two local investors lease the Ballast Point Park area with plans to transform it into an amusement park, complete with an Atlantic City-style boardwalk. The duo planned on spending $20,000 dollars (almost $400,000 in today’s dollars) on the improvements and on sprucing up the pavilion (built in the early 1890s). Most of the plans fell through, and the pavilion would be badly damaged during a hurricane ten years later. The pavilion’s companion gazebo still stands today at the park.

Courtesy of the Tampa Bay History Center.

110 years ago…

October 4, 1896 – The “young ladies” Cuban Club sponsors a picnic at Ballast Point to raise money for Cuba’s revolution war against Spain. The Consumers’ Electric Company offered a special round trip fare from Franklin Street to the picnic for $.20 ($4.50 in today’s dollars).

Courtesy of the Tampa Bay History Center.