Remember
NOT SO TRIVIAL
On June 2, 1898 Theodore Roosevelt and his Rough Riders arrived in Tampa from Lakeland. It is thought they set up camp one mile and a quarter due west of the Tampa Bay Hotel (University of Tampa), or near present day Armenia Avenue and Kennedy Boulevard. They awaited orders to leave for Cuba to fight in the Spanish American War. March 1, 1908 the fire alarm sounded at Station #4 and Captain T. S. Leggett and his crew hitched up the horses and headed to fight the fire. The Antonio Diaz boarding house at 1914 12th Avenue was on fire. It quickly engulfed everything from 20th Street to 16th Street and from 12th Avenue to Michigan Avenue (now Columbus Drive). The destruction covered a total of 55 acres. At the end of the day, over 300 buildings were destroyed and thousands of people were left homeless and unemployed. In 1887, Charlie Turk of Ybor City was the first person in Tampa to die of yellow fever. His family said that he contracted the disease by using a blanket that belonged to Pepe, an Italian fruit dealer. In 1824, Levi and Nancy Dixon Coller became some of the first settlers to arrive in Tampa from North Florida. Levi was born in 1791 in Springfield, Massachusetts and he died in 1855 in Tampa. On November 24, 1924, the Gandy Bridge, connecting Tampa with St. Petersburg, was opened. Many dignitaries attended including Governor Clifford Walker of New Jersey, one of 16 visiting governors. Also attending was D.P. Davis, the developer of Davis Islands. When the bridge was first opened there was a toll charge, but during World War II it was lifted.
MARCH – APRIL 2006
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