




A history of Tampa,
since 1823
Postcards, papers and photographs of Tampa from public archives, woven together by decade. Neighbors fill in the gaps.
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗The shores of Tampa Bay have been inhabited for thousands of years. A variant of the Weeden Island culture developed in the area by about 2,000 years ago. Archeological evidence suggests that these residents relied on the sea for most of their resources, as a vast majority of inhabited sites have been found on or near the shoreline, with little evidence of farming. At the time of European contact in the early 16th century, several chiefdoms of the Safety Harbor culture dominated the area.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowFinish Tampa’s story
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
0 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewDetroit Publishing - Tampa Inn an…, 1880: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Famous people from Tampa
See all 29 →Tampa, decade by decade
1990s
79 historic places in Tampa
Tampa has 79 listings on the National Register, and they protect 4,434 historic buildings, because Hyde Park Historic Districts alone counts 1,264. 4 are National Historic Landmarks, the highest tier, which fewer than 3% of listings reach.
Where they are
Architectural styles
When they were listed
Listed 1972Ybor Factory Building
Listed 1974Union Railroad Station
Listed 1974Tampa City Hall
Listed 1988LeClaire Apartments
Listed 1989Palace of Florence Apartments
Listed 1993Seminole Heights Residential District
Listed 2017Oaklawn and St. Louis Cemeteries Historic DistrictThen & now

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as Detroit Publishing - Tampa Inn and docks, Tampa, Fla (1880) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (5) and the Library of Congress (1). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.









