Tampa Bay History Center

[HARTride 2012]

Cool shots there

[TampaMike]

Thanks!

[Tallaman]

Great shots Mike. Thanks for sharing!

[TampaMike]

No problem dude.

[LuvHighrisers]

I finally got to the chance to go to the new History Museum today. To be honest, I had rather low expectations, but it is really very, very good! It is definitely worth a visit (& bringing visitors to). I parked in Channelside (I still hate those yellow chip coins but I digress) and it was an easy stroll to the museum. They definitely need more signs though because the building isn’t obvious from the outside what it is. As noted above, they are still working on the Riverwalk from Beneficial Drive to the History Center, but by the looks of it, it will make a very nice entrance to the History Center itself when finished. The ground level is still being landscaped, etc, but I think it will have a very nice street level interaction when done. The museum lobby is on the second floor and from that deck you get an ABSOLUTELY beautiful view of Garrison Channel. The buildings along the channel look awesome from there! There were lots of cruise ship people there and everyone was taking pictures on the deck with the channel and Harbor Island in the background. The Columbia Café is striking. It is furnished with lots of wood and tile and has some nice Columbia artifacts (such as Cesar Gonmart’s “royal portrait” when he was King of Santiago. The museum itself has lots of cool things. The “Winds of Change” video on the Panfilo Narvaez expedition (1528) is top notch as is the video/show regarding the Second Seminole War. Other highlights include the cigar store/factory exhibit. The next floor was good, but not as strong as the lower floor. It was a bit hard to follow and seemed to overlap areas from the lower floor. In the interest of full disclosure, I am a historian so I tried to look at it from the point of view of someone unfamiliar with local history. I am not sure if people will follow “the story” as clearly on the second floor as you do on the 1st. I also think that could have done a better job highlighting some of the famous Tampa Bay people (e.g. Martinez-Ybor, Nuzzio, McKay, Traficante, Plant, Janus, etc). On the plus side it did have more kid friend exhibits on this level. The map collection was also pretty cool. If anything surprised me negatively, it was that they did not have as many items on display as I had anticipated. Perhaps as locals visit, they will consider donating some items to be added to the collection. I know there are some gems out there. The other surprise was that it was really 90% focused on Tampa. Aside from the Spanish period, no real focus on Pinellas. Rural Florida gets covered in the Cracker exhibit, cattleman’s exhibit, and agriculture. No coverage of other historic places in our area such as San Antonio/St. Leo, Brooksville, Lakeland, or anything south such as Manatee or Sarasota. As I said at the start, it really is quite impressive and they have some very cool technological features (such as this sliding display board thing in the war exhibit area). The 3rd Floor will be used for changing exhibits. In October, they will have their first temporary exhibit up there which will be on Cracker Country. I would be curious to see what other people think. I took some pictures on my cell phone and I will try to upload them in a few days.

[tampasteve]

I was surprised on the lack of coverage of historic buildings in Tampa, specifically the hisoritc hotels and churches. Perhaps they will do some temporary exhibits on these two. I agree with your observations though. The first floor tells the "story" better than the second, but they both are very interesting. The movies/shows are great. Is the Seminole war one finished now? When I went (second weekend) it was still not completely done. You could tell because some of the projections were missing....

Steve

[HARTride 2012]

Agreed

[smiley]

who do you think tore down the buildings - the old rich familes that owned them and wanted to make money . . . and then founded the historical society

[LuvHighrisers]

Yea the Second Seminole War one is finished - itr is very cool. I agree with you concerning the lack of coverage of historic buildings and churches. Plant Hall at UT (the Tampa Bay Hotel) gets barely a mention. Also oddly enough the Spanish-American War gets kind of lost in war exhibit area. Tampa was a major player in that war and that is not made clear.

[JBrisco]

Do you mean that Tampa killed more people than the war did?

[LuvHighrisers]

Tampa had numerous connections to the Spanish-American War. The backdrop of the war, the struggle for Cuban Independence was closely linked to Ybor City. Jose Marti, the Apostle of Cuban Liberty, lived in Ybor City. Secret messages to begin the revolution were rolled in cigars in Ybor City. Marti was able to garner both financial support and soldiers from among the cigar workers. After the United States' entry into the war, Tampa was the headquarters and staging area for the Cuba phase of the Spanish-American War. In fact the Tampa Bay Hotel (now Plant Hall at UT) served as the headquarters for the generals, etc. Henry Plant lobbied the war department strongly to make Tampa (and his hotel) the base of operations. In fact, thousands of soldiers rode Plant’s railways to Tampa before being shipped out to Cuba. Many soldiers were garrisoned at Plant's hotel (or on the grounds) as well. Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders came through Tampa on the way to Cuba. It exposed Tampa to the rest of the country (and not always favorably). Stephen Crane, for example, was a war correspondent who came to Tampa at the time to cover the war. Tampa swelled considerably under the influx of the military during the Spanish-American War. There are certain places naturally associated with various wars such as Lexington, Concord, Boston, & Yorktown for the Revolutionary War, or Gettysburg, Bull Run, & Vicksburg for the War Between the States, or Pearl Harbor, Normandy, Los Alamos & Midway for World War II. Though there were no battles fought in Tampa during the Spanish American War it is the war that most deeply affected the identity of Tampa and the war that Tampa most influenced.

[I-275westcoastfl]

I went there today, a nice little museum with interesting exhibits, they did a good job on the videos there. There is a lack of history on Pinellas, and of course many other things.

[JBrisco]

Well put, it shows how historically significant Tampa was in that one instant in time.
Amazing how a cigar rolled in West Tampa started a revolution.