The very first Catholic Church on Florida’s west coast was established in Tampa during 1860. It was named Saint Louis Parish in honor,of a Dominican missionary who was martyred on the shores of Tampa Bay in 1549. Following a Yellow Fever epidemic in 1888, which took the lives of the local priests, the Jesuits assumed responsibility for the parish.
By 1892, Tampa had grown sufficiently that the citizenry felt the need for a new church. Groundbreaking occurred in 1898, with the cornerstone being laid two years later. It was officially dedicated in 1905 and renamed Sacred Heart. Parts of the new construction included a 135 foot dome and 70 stained glass windows. A school , called Sacred Heart Academy, was opened in 1931 and operated until 2012.
By 2005, the Jesuits had withdrawn from running the parish in order to focus on their academic institutions. Rev. Robert Lynch, the Diocesan Bishop at the time, invited the Franciscan Friars of the Most Holy Name of Jesus Province to assume responsibility for the parish.
A marker was installed on the exterior of the church in 2010 to recognize its historical significance.

Located on North Florida Ave. in downtown Tampa, Sacred Heart Church was constructed in 1905 in the Romanesque style.

Archival photo of the church shortly after its dedication.

The main altar is beautifully done (obviously they are expecting a wedding to take place soon).

Well depicted in this postcard is the workmanship that’s went into creating the main altarpiece.

Equally impressive are the decorations on the underside of the dome over the altar.

Sacred Heart has 70 exquisitely stained glass windows throughout the building....

...and, of course, a magnificent pipe organ.

Law enforcement in Tampa was first established in 1885. At that time, an act to incorporate the city included the creation of a City Marshall position. Back then, part of the City Marshall’s duties included “...examining and recording marks and brands on butchered cattle.”
Thirty-one years later, an official police force was established by city ordinance. This small force included a Chief of Police (who replaced the City Marshall), an Assistant Chief, a Sergeant, and three mounted officers. On September 26, 1895, John McCormick became the first police officer to die in the line of duty.
After another one hundred years had passed, a group of modern day officers came together to formulate a plan to recognize those who had died on the job and to create a museum that would teach the public about the science of policing. While the official opening occurred in 1998, the actual collection of items that would go into the museum began forty years earlier. Some of those items dated back to the 19th century.
Tampa artist, J.J. Watts, created the Memorial to Fallen Officers. It consists of a cut-out silhouette of a uniformed officer, symbolizing his/her being missing from the department, family and friends. This Memorial stands in the old Line-up room , which also served as the Detective Division’s roll-call room, on the ground floor of the Head Quarters building.
We have visited a number of museums dedicated to law enforcement in our travels. Tampa’s is a well done, professional looking depository.

Created and opened in 1998, the Police Museum is located as part of Tampa’s Police Headquarters.

Some of the items on display began to be collected in the late 1950’s, forty years before the creation of the museum.

The collections include some old items...

...and some new.

In 1934, John Dillinger was placed on the FBI’s Top Ten Most Wanted list.This circular from the Illinois State Bureau of Criminal Identifcation and Investigation was distributed to local police departments around the country.

What did she do to land behind bars?

A 1940’s archival photo of Tampa’s Detective Squad.

In a previous blog piece, we had posted about meeting the 59th Mayor of Tampa, Jane Castor (elected in 2019)....

....At that time, we had learned that Ms. Castor had served 31 years on the Tampa Police Force (1984 to 2015), the last six years as its Chief of Police.

Situated on the ground floor of Tampa’s Police Headquarters is this memorial to its fallen officers, created by artist J.J. Watts.

Designated The Mother of African-American Schools, the historic Harlem Academy was the first public school for African-American children in Tampa. Classes were originally held in the Hillsborough County Courthouse until 1868, when a permanent building was erected (financed by the The Friedman’s Bureau of the government). At its opening, this structure was known as Tampa School No. 2. By 1889, a new building had been constructed and it officially became known as Harlem Academy. Four years later, this building was destroyed by fire. The African-American community raised funds to rebuild the school. In the meantime, space for the students was provided by the nearby St. Paul AME church.
The new school opened in 1895, eventually to be replaced by a all brick building in 1912. One of the school’s principals, Christina Meacham, helped to organize the Florida Negro Teacher’s Association. As a result, in 1923, the school was renamed in her honor.
​ Harlem Academy (now known as the Meacham school) closed in 1968, later to be demolished to make way for apartments and condos. A historic marker was erected on the site of the school in 2008.

Located on East Harrison Street near North Morgan Street, this Historic Harlem Academy marker was erected by the School District of Hillsborough County, Historic Harlem Academy Alumni, and the Hillsborough County Historical Advisory Council.

When the Academy was destroyed by an 1892 fire, the nearby St. Paul AME Church provided space until a new building was completed in 1895.

The all brick Harlem Academy School of 1912.

This archival photo is of the Class of 1960...

...and of an earlier Class (probably taken in the 1950’s).

Located along one side of the city’s Centennial Park is the Ybor City Museum. Housed in the former Ferlita Bakery building, it was originally known as “La Joven Francesca.” (The Young Francisco).
Established in 1896 by Francisco Ferlita, a Cuban-Italian immigrant, this was the first U.S. bakery to specialize in making Cuban bread - i.e. similar to French or Italian baguette-like loaves but made with all-white flour and using lard or vegetable shortening. At the time, the bakery created between 300 and 500 loaves per day, each selling for three to five cents a loaf. The bread was delivered every morning to local homes with sturdy nails driven into their door frames on which the loaves were impaled.
A devastating fire destroyed the original bakery in 1923. It was eventually rebuilt, this time much larger, making it THE major bread supplier in Tampa. The bakery finally closed for good in 1973. It was then totally renovated and transformed into a museum, in 1977, dedicated to conserving the city’s rich history and heritage.

Cuban-Italian immigrant Francisco Ferlita established his bakery in Ybor City toward the end of the 19th century...

...and a quarter of a century later it had become,THE major supplier of Cuban bread in Tampa ( making approximately 35,000 loaves per year).

After Francisco died in 1931, his five sons continued the business until its final closing in 1973. Following a total renovation of the building, it reopened in 1977 as a museum...

...dedicated to preserving the history and heritage of this unique city, totally created, populated, and owned by immigrants.

Cigar manufacturing was what made this neighborhood of Tampa famous.

Much of the tasks in making cigars is repetitive and somewhat boring. In order to entertain employees while they worked, “readers” were hired (and paid for by the workers themselves) to inform them of local news. He would also read poems and books to the workers. The employees themselves would vote on what was read to them.

Located next to the bakery-museum is this Mediterranean-style garden which is often used as the site for private parties, wedding receptions and/or corporate events.

Founded in the 1880’s by Vincent Martinez-Ybor, the city quickly grew into the cigar capital of the world. In order to attract the immigrants he would need to make his cigars, Ybor built hundreds of small housing, some of which have been preserved .

In the early 1880’s, Tampa was considered to be an isolated village.However, because it had a good harbor, an excellent climate, as well as the newly installed Henry Plant railroad, Cuban cigar magnate Vincent Martinez Ybor saw its attractiveness as an ideal location for his expanding empire. By 1885, Ybor had purchased 40 acres in northeast Tampa to locate his new base of operations. He then began to gobble up additional surrounding lands.
This visionary entrepreneur knew that It would be necessary to have a large influx of employees to make the quantity of cigars he needed for his customers. In order to attract immigrant workers to his factories, Ybor built hundreds of small houses. Thus, Ybor City was born.
Florida’s first industrial town was annexed by Tampa in 1887 - two years after Ybor founded it. Ybor is unique among American Southern Towns in that it was entirely populated and owned by immigrants.
This Tampa neighborhood flourished until the Great Depression of the 1930’s, when demand for cigars diminished and industrial mechanization cut into employment. By the 1970’s, large portions of Ybor City had been abandoned. A decade later, an influx of artists began to revitalize the town, renovating many of the old cigar factories into studios, night clubs and restaurants. Eventually, Ybor City was designated a National Historic Landmark and it’s main commercial thoroughfare, 7th Avenue, was labeled one of the “...10 Great Streets in America.”

Ybor City is only three miles from downtown Tampa, but, by far, the best way to get there is by trolly....

...and this mode of transportation is free!

The City, which is really considered a neighborhood of Tampa, welcomes visitors with open arms.

Ybor’s main attraction is 7th Avenue’s commercial district...

...and one of the oldest occupants is the Columbia Restaurant.

Its very colorful ceramic tile exterior indicates that this restaurant has been run by six generations of the Hernandez family since 1905.

Cigar magnate Vincent Martinez Ybor knew he had to bring in large numbers of workers to keep his business growing. So he built hundreds of small affordable housing to attract immigrants.

Several of these homes have been preserved for their historical significance.

A number of Ybor cigar stores still make their products by hand....

...and are willing to instruct tourists on the process of making cigars.

The arriving immigrants that helped to develop Ybor City also brought chickens with them. It is estimated that approximately 300 feral chickens now live in the city and are direct descendants of the earliest residents from over 100 years ago. In order to protect these birds, a city ordinance specifies that it is illegal to feed or tamper with them or their eggs. There is a city employee whose job is to care for them.

In the heart of Ybor City is Centennial Park, which honors those who helped to create the city. On Saturdays, this is the site of Ybor’s Farmers Market...

...a very popular weekend pastime for locals and tourists alike.