Tampa: The Early Years

The Tampa Bay area has a rich and fascinating history. Truly an international city, Tampa attracted its residents from all over the world, and the city's natural deep-water port and proximity to the Panama Canal encouraged significant growth around the turn of the twentieth century. Visionary
pioneers came together with Henry B. Plant's railroad, the construction of the Tampa Bay Hotel, and Tampa's five "C's" (climate, cattle, citrus, cigars, and cheap labor) to build the city that became the "Gem of Florida's Gulf Coast." During this same period in Tampa's history, from the 1890s through the 1920s, the postcard was an extraordinarily popular means of communication. Postcard photographers traveled the nation snapping photographs of busy street scenes, documenting local landmarks, and assembling crowds of local children only too happy to pose for a picture. These images, printed as postcards and sold in general stores across the country, survive as telling reminders of an important era in American history.