A Brief History of USF

Founded in 1956, the University of South Florida was the first independent state university conceived, planned and built in the 20th century. The University has made incredible strides since then, developing into one of the nation’s leading research institutions, but it didn’t happen overnight. In fact, it all started as most great ideas do – with a problem in need of a solution.

In 1954, there were three state universities in Florida: the University of Florida, Florida State University and Florida A&M University. The “Big 3” were expected to serve the educational needs of all 36,000 students in the state, from Pensacola to Key West.

At the time, enrollment over the next 20 years was projected to rise 350 percent due to desegregation and returning veterans taking advantage of the G.I. Bill after World War II. This posed a sizeable problem for the state and it was a Hillsborough County legislator named Sam Gibbons who devised a solution. He was a WWII veteran and D-Day paratrooper, but also a recent law school graduate and young father. After consulting with colleagues, including close friend John Germany, Gibbons penned one of Tallahassee’s shortest pieces of legislation while sitting at his kitchen table one evening in 1955. This 80-word bill, signed into law later that year by then-Gov. LeRoy Collins, created a state university in Hillsborough County that would change Florida forever.

The new university’s location was hotly debated and over the next two years, the options were narrowed to Tampa and St. Petersburg. When surveyors visited St. Petersburg in October 1956 to assess the proposed site, terrible flooding from a storm the night before made it look very unappealing.

As a result, Gibbons ultimately secured the Tampa location. The site chosen was the Henderson Air Field, an auxiliary base on 46th Street that was used as a practice bombing range during WWII. From 1942-1946, bombardiers dropped sand-filled metal casings next to what is now the USF Library, JuniperPoplar Hall and Campus Recreation. If not for an abandoned bombing range and a well-timed Florida storm, you might be visiting USF’s main campus in St. Petersburg.

With the location decided, the next step was choosing a name. Several ministers dubbed the school “Bottleneck U” due to the nearby brewery. Other suggestions were Citrus State University, University of the Western Hemisphere, Flamerica University, and College of the Sunshine State. The University of South Florida was proposed by a newspaper, the now defunct The Tampa Tribune, because at the time, it was the southernmost public university in the state.

A great university needs a great leader and USF found one in its first president, John S. Allen, who had been serving as the interim president of the University of Florida. Allen was an astronomer by trade and had a clear vision for an innovative university. Accompanied by his wife, Grace, USF’s first president went to work planning the University’s campus, programs and personnel on the 1,700 acres of donated scrubland. Then-Gov. LeRoy Collins, presided over turbulent times and made some tough decisions. His reaction to the 1954 Brown v. the Board of Education decision mandating integration of public schools was among the most moderate in the South. For him, racial integration was simply “the Christian thing to do,” an attitude that helped make USF the first desegregated university in Florida.