From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Tampa, Florida |
| City |
| City of Tampa |
|
|
|
| Nickname(s): Cigar City,[1] The Big Guava[2] |
Location in Hillsborough County and the state of Florida |
|
Location in the United States |
Coordinates:  27°58′05″N 82°28′35″WCoordinates: 27°58′05″N 82°28′35″W |
| Country |
United States |
| State |
Florida |
| County |
Hillsborough |
| Settled |
1823 |
| Incorporated (Village) |
January 18, 1849 |
| Incorporated (Town) |
September 10, 1853 and
August 11, 1873 |
| Incorporated (City) |
December 15, 1855 * and
July 15, 1887 |
| Government |
| • Type |
Mayor-council |
| • Mayor |
Bob Buckhorn (D) |
| • Legislative |
City Council |
| Area |
| • City |
170.6 sq mi (441.9 km2) |
| • Land |
112.1 sq mi (290.3 km2) |
| • Water |
58.5 sq mi (151.6 km2) 34.3% |
| • Urban |
802.3 sq mi (2,078 km2) |
| • Metro |
2,554 sq mi (6,610 km2) |
| Elevation |
48 ft (14.6 m) |
| Population (2012)[4] |
| • City |
347,645 |
| • Rank |
53rd in the US |
| • Density |
2,969.6/sq mi (1,146.7/km2) |
| • Urban |
2.4 million (17th) |
| • Metro |
2,824,724 [3] |
| Demonym |
Tampan, Tampanian[5] |
| Time zone |
EST (UTC-5) |
| • Summer (DST) |
EDT (UTC-4) |
| ZIP codes |
33601–33626, 33629–33631,
33633–33635, 33637, 33647, 33650–33651, 33655, 33660–33664, 33672–33675,
33677, 33679–33682, 33684–33690, 33694, 33697[6] |
| Area code(s) |
813 |
| FIPS code |
12-71000[7] |
| GNIS feature ID |
0292005[8] |
| Website |
www.tampagov.net |
| * Original city charter revoked by Florida Legislature on October 4, 1869[9] |
Tampa [10] is a city in and the
county seat of
Hillsborough County, Florida, United States.
[11] It is located on the west coast of Florida on
Tampa Bay, near the
Gulf of Mexico, and is part of the
Tampa Bay Metropolitan Area. The city had a population of 346,037 in 2011.
[12][13]
The current location of Tampa was once inhabited by indigenous peoples of the
Safety Harbor culture most notably the
Tocobaga and the
Pohoy, who lived along the shores of
Tampa Bay. The area was explored by
Spanish explorers in the 16th century, resulting in violent conflicts and the
introduction of European diseases, which wiped out the original native cultures. Although Spain claimed Florida as part of
New Spain,
it did not found a colony in the Tampa area, and there were no
permanent American or European settlements within today's city limits
until after the United States acquired Florida from Spain in 1819.
In 1824, the
United States Army established a frontier outpost called
Fort Brooke at the mouth of the
Hillsborough River, near the site of today's
Tampa Convention Center. The first civilian residents were pioneers who settled near the fort for protection from the nearby
Seminole
population, and the small village was first incorporated as "Tampa" in
1849. The town grew slowly until the 1880s, when railroad links, the
discovery of phosphate, and the arrival of the cigar industry
jump-started its development, helping it to grow from a quiet village of
less than 800 residents in 1880 to a bustling city of over 30,000 by
the early 1900s.
Today, Tampa is part of the metropolitan area most commonly referred
to as the "Tampa Bay Area". For U.S. Census purposes, Tampa is part of
the
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. The four-county area is composed of roughly 2.9 million residents, making it the second largest
metropolitan statistical area (MSA) in the state, and the fourth largest in the
Southeastern United States, behind
Miami,
Washington, D.C. and
Atlanta.
[14] The Greater Tampa Bay area has over 4 million residents and generally includes the Tampa and
Sarasota
metro areas. The Tampa Bay Partnership and U.S. Census data showed an
average annual growth of 2.47 percent, or a gain of approximately 97,000
residents per year. Between 2000 and 2006, the Greater Tampa Bay Market
experienced a combined growth rate of 14.8 percent, growing from 3.4
million to 3.9 million and hitting the 4 million population mark on
April 1, 2007.
[15] A 2012 estimate shows the Tampa Bay area population to have 4,310,524 people and a 2017 projection of 4,536,854 people.
[16]
Tampa was ranked as the 5th best outdoor city by
Forbes in 2008.
[17]
Tampa also ranks as the fifth most popular American city, based on
where people want to live, according to a 2009 Pew Research Center
study.
[18] A 2004 survey by the
NYU newspaper
Washington Square News ranked Tampa as a top city for "twenty-somethings."
[19] Tampa is ranked as a "Gamma+"
world city by
Loughborough University, ranked alongside other world cities such as
Phoenix,
Charlotte,
Rotterdam, and
Santo Domingo.
[20]
History
Etymology
The word "Tampa" may mean "sticks of fire" in the language of the
Calusa, a
Native American tribe that once lived south of today's
Tampa Bay.
This might be a reference to the many lightning strikes that the area
receives during the summer months. Other historians claim the name means
"the place to gather sticks".
[21] Toponymist George R. Stewart
writes that the name was the result of a miscommunication between the
Spanish and the Indians, the Indian word being "itimpi", meaning simply
"near it".
[22] The name first appears in the "Memoir" of
Hernando de Escalante Fontaneda
(1575), who had spent 17 years as a Calusa captive. He calls it "Tanpa"
and describes it as an important Calusa town. While "Tanpa" may be the
basis for the modern name "Tampa",
archaeologist Jerald Milanich places the Calusa village of Tanpa at the mouth of
Charlotte Harbor,
the original "Bay of Tanpa". A later Spanish expedition did not notice
Charlotte Harbor while sailing north along the west coast of Florida and
assumed that the current Tampa Bay was the bay they sought. The name
was accidentally transferred north.
[23] Map makers were using the term Bay or Bahia Tampa as early as 1695.
[24]
People from Tampa are known as "Tampans" or "Tampanians". Local authorities consulted by Michael Kruse of the
Tampa Bay Times
suggest that "Tampan" was historically more common, while "Tampanian"
became popular when the former term came to be seen as a potential
insult.
[5] Latin Americans
from Tampa are known as "tampeños", or "tampeñas" for females. These
terms of Spanish origin emerged after 1900 for the immigrant communities
in
West Tampa and
Ybor City.
The tampeño, or "Tampa Latin", community is a mix of Cuban, Italian,
Spanish, and American influences, with Cuban influence being dominant.
[5][25][26]
European exploration
Not much is known about the cultures who called the Tampa Bay area home before European contact. When
Spanish explorers arrived in the 1520s, they found
Tocobaga villages around the northern half of Tampa Bay and
Calusa villages along the southern portion of the bay.
[27]
Expeditions led by
Pánfilo de Narváez and
Hernando de Soto landed near Tampa, but neither
conquistador stayed long. The native inhabitants repulsed any Spanish attempt to establish a permanent settlement or convert them to
Catholicism.
The newcomers brought with them infectious disease, resulting in a
total collapse of the native cultures of Florida. The Tampa area was
depopulated and ignored for more than 200 years.
[21]
In the mid-18th century, events in American colonies drove the
Seminole Indians into northern Florida.
[28] During this period, the Tampa area had only a handful of residents:
Cuban and
Native American fishermen.
[29] They lived in a small village at the mouth of Spanishtown Creek on Tampa Bay, in today's
Hyde Park neighborhood along
Bayshore Boulevard.
[29]
U.S. control
After purchasing Florida from Spain in 1821, the United States built forts and trading posts in the new territory.
[30] Fort Brooke was established in January 1824 at the mouth of the Hillsborough River on Tampa Bay, in
Downtown Tampa.
[31] Tampa was initially an isolated frontier outpost. The sparse civilian population practically abandoned the area during the
Second Seminole War from 1835 to 1842, after which the Seminoles were forced out and many settlers returned.
[32]
Florida
became the 27th state in 1845. On January 18, 1849, Tampa was
officially incorporated as the "Village of Tampa". Tampa was home to 185
civilians, or 974 total residents including military personnel, in
1850.
[33][34] Tampa was reincorporated as a town on December 15, 1855.
[35]
Civil War and Reconstruction
During the
Civil War, Florida seceded along with most of the southern states to form the
Confederate States of America, and Fort Brooke was manned by Confederate troops.
Martial law was declared in Tampa in January 1862, and Tampa's city government ceased to operate for the duration of the war.
[36]
In 1861, the
Union Navy set up a
blockade around many southern ports to cut off the Confederacy, and several ships were stationed near the mouth of
Tampa Bay.
[37][38][39] The
Battle of Fort Brooke on October 16 and the
Battle of Ballast Point on October 18, 1863 damaged the Confederates, with Union troops destroying Confederate blockade runners.
[40] The
Civil War ended in April 1865 with a Confederate defeat.
In May 1865, federal troops arrived in Tampa to occupy the fort and the town as part of
Reconstruction. They remained until August 1869.
Tampa was a fishing village with very few people and little industry, and limited prospects for development. Tampa's chronic
yellow fever epidemics, borne by mosquitoes from the swampland, were widespread during the late 1860s and 1870s, and many residents left.
[41]
In 1869, residents voted to abolish the city of Tampa government.
[42]
The population of "Tampa Town" was below 800 by 1870, and had fallen
further by 1880. Fort Brooke was decommissioned in 1883, and except for
two
cannons displayed on the
University of Tampa campus, all traces of the fort are gone.
[citation needed]
1880s economic prosperity
Port Tampa Inn, with rail line in front of hotel, c. 1900
In the mid-1880s, Tampa's fortunes took several sudden turns for the better. First,
phosphate was discovered in the
Bone Valley
region southeast of Tampa in 1883. The mineral, vital for the
production of fertilizers and other products, was soon being shipped out
from the Port of Tampa in great volume. Tampa is still a major
phosphate exporter.
The discovery of phosphate, the arrival of Plant's railroad, and the
founding of Ybor City and West Tampa—all in the mid-1880s—were crucial
to Tampa's development. The once-struggling village of Tampa became a
bustling
boomtown almost overnight, and had grown into one of the largest cities in Florida by 1900.
[43]
Plant's railroad
Henry B. Plant's narrow-gauge
South Florida Railroad
reached Tampa and its port in late 1883, finally connecting the small
town to the nation's railroad system after years of efforts by local
leaders. Previously, Tampa's overland transportation links had consisted
of sandy roads stretching across the Florida countryside. Plant's
railroad made it much easier to get goods in and out of the Tampa Bay
area. Phosphate and
commercial fishing exports could be sent north by rail
[44] and many new products were brought into the Tampa market, along with the first tourists.
Ybor's 1st Cigar Factory c. 1900
Ybor's cigars
Child labor at a cigar factory, 1909. Photo by
Lewis Hine.
The new railroad link enabled another important industry to come to Tampa. In 1885, the Tampa Board of Trade enticed
Vicente Martinez Ybor to move his
cigar manufacturing operations to Tampa from
Key West. Proximity to
Cuba
made importation of "clear Havana tobacco" easy by sea, and Plant's
railroad made shipment of finished cigars to the rest of the US market
easy by land.
[43]
Since Tampa was still a small town at the time (population less than
5000), Ybor built hundreds of small houses around his factory to
accommodate the immediate influx of mainly
Cuban and
Spanish cigar workers.
Ybor City's
factories rolled their first cigars in 1886, and many different cigar
manufacturers moved their operations to town in ensuing years. Many
Italian and a few eastern European
Jewish
immigrants arrived starting in the late 1880s, opening businesses and
shops that catered to cigar workers. By 1900, over 10,000 immigrants had
moved to the neighborhood. Several thousand more Cuban immigrants built
West Tampa,
another cigar-centric suburb founded a few years later by Hugh
MacFarlane. Between them, two "Latin" communities combined to
exponentially expand Tampa's population, economic base, and tax
revenues, as Tampa became the "Cigar Capital of the World".
[45]
Early 20th century
During the first few decades of the 20th century, the
cigar-making industry was the backbone of Tampa's economy. The factories in
Ybor City
and West Tampa made an enormous number of cigars—in the peak year of
1929, over 500,000,000 cigars were hand rolled in the city.
[46]
In 1904, a local civic association of local businessmen dubbed themselves
Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla
(named after local mythical pirate Jose Gaspar), and staged an
"invasion" of the city followed by a parade. With a few exceptions, the
Gasparilla Pirate Festival has been held every year since.
[47]
Bolita and organized crime
Beginning in the late 19th century, illegal
bolita
lotteries were very popular among the Tampa working classes, especially
in Ybor City. In the early 1920s, this small-time operation was taken
over by Charlie Wall, the rebellious son of a prominent Tampa family,
and went big-time. Bolita was able to openly thrive only because of
kick-backs and bribes to key local politicians and law enforcement
officials, and many were on the take.
[48]
Profits from the bolita lotteries and
Prohibition-era bootlegging led to the development of several
organized crime
factions in the city. Charlie Wall was the first major boss, but
various power struggles culminated in consolidation of control by
Sicilian mafioso Santo Trafficante, Sr., and his faction in the 1950s. After his death in 1954 from
cancer, control passed to his son
Santo Trafficante, Jr., who established alliances with families in
New York and extended his power throughout
Florida and into
Batista-era
Cuba.
[49][50]
The era of rampant and open corruption ended in the 1950s, when the
Estes Kefauver's traveling
organized crime hearings
came to town and were followed by the sensational misconduct trials of
several local officials. Although many of the worst offenders in
government and the mob were not charged, the trials helped to end the
sense of lawlessness which had prevailed in Tampa for decades.
[48]
Panorama of Downtown Tampa taken in 1913.
Mid to late 20th century
MacDill Air Force Base during World War II.
Tampa grew considerably as a result of
World War II. Prior to the United States' involvement in the conflict, construction began on
MacDill Field, the predecessor of present day
MacDill Air Force Base. MacDill Field served as a main base for
Army Air Corps and later
Army Air Forces
operations just before and during World War II, with multiple auxiliary
airfields around the Tampa Bay area and surrounding counties. At the
end of the war, MacDill remained as an active military installation
while the auxiliary fields reverted to civilian control. Two of these
auxiliary fields would later become the present day
Tampa International Airport and
St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport. With the establishment of an independent
U.S. Air Force in 1947, MacDill Field became
MacDill AFB.
During the 1950s and 1960s Tampa saw record-setting population growth
that has not been seen since. This amazing growth spurred major
expansion of the city's highways and bridges bringing thousands into the
city and creating endless possibilities for Tampa business owners who
welcomed tourists and new citizens alike into their neighborhoods. It
was during this time period in the city's history that two of the most
popular tourist attractions in the area were developed –
Busch Gardens and
Lowry Park.
Many of the well-known institutions that play an important role in the
economic development of the city were established during this time
period.
[51]
In 1956, the
University of South Florida
was established in North Tampa, spurring major development in this
section of the city and offering many new job opportunities. Tampa
continued to expand as new hospitals, schools, churches and subdivisions
all began appearing to accommodate the growth. Many business offices
began moving away from the traditional downtown office building into
more convenient neighborhood office plazas.
[51]
In 1970, the Census Bureau reported city's population as 80.0% white and 19.7% black.
[52]
Four attempts have been made to
consolidate
the municipal government of the city of Tampa with the county
government of Hillsborough County (1967, 1970, 1971, and 1972), all of
which failed at the ballot box; the greatest loss was also the most
recent attempt in 1972, with the final tally being 33,160 (31%) in favor
and 73,568 (69%) against the proposed charter.
[53]
The biggest recent growth in the city was the development of
New Tampa, which started in 1988 when the city annexed a mostly rural area of 24 square miles (62 km
2) between
I-275 and
I-75.
East Tampa, historically a mostly black community, was the scene of
several race riots during and for some time after the period of racial
segregation, mainly due to problems between residents and the
Tampa Police Department.
Geography
Topography
According to the
United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 170.6 square miles (442 km
2) including 112.1 square miles (290 km
2) of land and 58.5 square miles (151.5 km
2) (34.31%) of water. The highest point in the city is only 48 feet (15 m). Tampa is bordered by two bodies of water,
Old Tampa Bay and
Hillsborough Bay, both of which flow together to form
Tampa Bay, which in turn flows into the
Gulf of Mexico. The
Hillsborough River flows out into Hillsborough Bay, passing directly in front of
Downtown Tampa and supplying Tampa's main source of fresh water.
Palm River is a smaller river flowing from just east of the city into
McKay Bay, which is a smaller inlet, sited at the northeast end of Hillsborough Bay
[54]
Tampa's geography is marked by the Interbay Peninsula which divides
Hillsborough Bay (the eastern) from Old Tampa Bay (the western).
Climate
Tampa's climate shows characteristics of a tropical climate, but is situated on the southern fringe of the
humid subtropical climate (
Köppen Cfa)
zone. Tampa's climate generally features hot summer days with frequent
thunderstorms in the summer (rain is less frequent in the fall and
winter), and a threat of a light winter freeze from November 15 through
March 5 caused by occasional cold fronts from the north. Average highs
range from 70 to 90 °F (21 to 32 °C) year round, and lows 52 to 76 °F
(11 to 24 °C).
[55]
Tampa's official recorded high has never hit 100 °F (37.8 °C) – the
all-time record high temperature is 99 °F (37 °C), recorded on June 5,
1985
[55]
Paddling on the Hillsborough River
Because of
Tampa Bay, Tampa is split between two
USDA climate zones. According to the 2012
USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map, Tampa is listed as
USDA
zone 9b north of Kennedy Boulevard away from the bay and 10a south of
Kennedy Boulevard and along the bay, Zone 10a is about the northern
limit of where
coconut palms and
royal palms
can be grown, although some specimens do grow in northern Tampa.
Southern Tampa has much more tropical foliage than the northern parts of
the city.
Summer
Temperatures are warm to hot from around mid-May through mid-October,
which roughly coincides with the rainy season. Summertime weather is
very consistent from June through September, with daytime highs near
90 °F (32 °C), lows in the mid-70s °F (23–24 °C), and high
humidity.
Afternoon thunderstorms, usually generated by the interaction of the
Gulf and
Atlantic sea breezes, are such a regular occurrence during the summer that the Tampa Bay area is recognized as the "Lightning Capital of
North America".
Every year, Florida averages 10 deaths and 30 injuries from lightning
strikes, with several of these usually occurring in or around Tampa.
[56] Because of the frequent summer
thunderstorms,
Tampa has a pronounced wet season, receiving an average of 26.1 inches
(663 mm) of rain from June to September but only about 18.6 inches
(472 mm) during the remaining eight months of the year. The historical
averages during the late summer, especially September, are augmented by
passing tropical systems, which can easily dump many inches of rain in
one day. Tropical Storm Debby in 2012 dropped 8.57 inches of rain at
Tampa International Airport on June 24, 2012 and amounts up to 10.36
inches was reported by a
CoCoRaHS observer in NW Tampa.
[57] Outside of the summer rainy season, most of the area's precipitation is delivered by the occasional passage of a
weather front.
[55]
The regular summertime afternoon thundershowers occasionally intensify into a
severe thunderstorm, bringing heavy downpours, frequent lightning, strong straight-line winds, and sometimes hail.
August 2004:
Hurricane Charley was forecast to make landfall in Tampa but veered east.
Tropical systems
Though it is affected by
tropical storms every few years and threatened by tropical systems almost annually, Tampa has not taken a direct hit from a
hurricane since
1921.
[citation needed] That seemed about to change in 2004, when
Hurricane Charley
was forecast to make landfall near downtown Tampa, with potentially
devastating effects for the entire region. The danger prompted one of
the largest evacuations in state history.
[citation needed]
But Charley never reached Tampa Bay. After paralleling Florida's
southwest coastline, the storm swerved to the east and slammed into
Punta Gorda instead.
Winter
In the winter, average temperatures range from the low to mid 70s °F
(21–24 °C) during the day to the low to mid 50s °F (10–13 °C) at night.
However, sustained colder air pushes into the area on several occasions
every winter, dropping the highs and lows to 15 °F (8 °C) or more below
the seasonal averages for several days at a time. The temperature can
fall below freezing an average of 2 to 3 times per year, though this
does not occur every season.
[58] Since the Tampa area is home to a diverse range of freeze-sensitive
agriculture and
aquaculture,
hard freezes, although very infrequent, are a major concern. Since
Tampa has some characteristics of a tropical climate, hard freezes
(defined as below 28 °F (−2.2 °C)) happen rarely (every 5 to 20 years
depending on location).
The lowest temperature ever recorded in Tampa was 18 °F (−8 °C) on December 13, 1962.
[55]
The last measurable snow in Tampa fell on January 19, 1977, with a
total accumulation of 0.2 inches (0.5 cm). Three major freezes occurred
in the 1980s: in
January 1982,
January 1985,
and December 1989. The losses suffered by farmers forced many to sell
off their citrus groves, which helped fuel a boom in subdivision
development in the 1990s and 2000s.
[59][60]
In January 2010, a prolonged cold snap was the longest stretch of cold weather in the history of Tampa.
[61]
Temperatures did not get above 49 °F (9.4 °C) for 5 days and there were
freezes every night in northern Tampa for a week straight, causing
significant damage to tropical foliage.
| [show]Climate data for Tampa, Florida (Tampa Int'l), 1981−2010 normals, extremes 1890−present[a] |
Cityscape
Tampa skyline panorama facing west.
Neighborhoods
People's Republic of China
