Early History · Civil War · Late 19th Century Growth · 20th Century. Our editors will review what you submitted and determine if they should review the article. The Port of Tampa is the State's Largest Deepwater Port. Phosphates (an early economic factor) and citrus fruits account for much of the port's exports, while imports include oil, coal and steel.
In addition to the port, the international airport and the network of railroads and highways make Tampa the regional center of commerce and distribution. The city's economy is well-diversified; other important factors include insurance and financial services, manufacturing (especially medical products, fertilizers, electronics, and clothing), high-tech industries, and tourism. MacDill Air Force Base, on a peninsula at the southernmost tip of the city, is another important part of the economy. Agriculture in the region includes strawberries, tomatoes, ornamentals, citrus fruits, beef, poultry and dairy products.
The Tampa Bay area is a popular place for retirees. Sure, there's that perfectly delimited city called Tampa. But Tampa Bay? There is no such thing, according to the measure of the cartographers. So what about the Tampa of the Sunshine State? With Nearly 400,000 People Living in the City, It's Clear Why Tampa, Florida.
It's what immediately comes to mind when you say the name. Since Tampa was still a small town at the time (population less than 5,000), Ybor built hundreds of small houses around its factory to accommodate the immediate influx of thousands of Cuban and Spanish tobacco workers. In 1851, Tampa native John Gorrie invented the first mechanical refrigeration system that paved the way for air conditioning. Two Tampaans attended the Secession Convention; Judge and Editor of the Florida Peninsular Newspaper Simon Turman and Attorney James Gettis.
Ybor built the Ybor Factory Building and El Pasaje and Ybor City (as the settlement was called) quickly turned Tampa into a major cigar production center. Desolate and uninhabited, the Tampa Bay region was briefly retained by the British in the late 18th century, and once again became a Spanish possession after the American Revolution. Tampa's fortunes changed dramatically starting in the 1880s with the construction of the first rail links to the city and the development of thriving tobacco and phosphate industries, all in a decade. And if Fort Brooke and Tampa were the playing fields of ordinary people, Temple Terrace was a playground for the rich.
According to Benjamin Mays A Study of Negro Life in Tampa, the black population grew from 4,383 in 1900 to 23,323 in 1927. In the 1990s, the addition of sports franchises such as Tampa Bay Lightning, Tampa Bay Mutiny and Tampa Bay Devil Rays increased national awareness of the new name and stimulated businesses and others to get on the bandwagon. The plant extensively developed port facilities and promoted tourism, building the luxurious Moorish-style Tampa Bay hotel in 1891. In 1952, the NAACP moved its state headquarters to Tampa, and educator Edward Daniel Davis was president of Central Life Insurance Company. Petersburg and Clearwater (southwest and west) across the western arm of the bay (Old Tampa Bay) next to the Gandy and Howard Frankland bridges and the Courtney Campbell elevated road. When thousands of visitors arrive this week for the big game, they'll be looking for a place called Tampa Bay.
Charley predicted to directly impact Tampa Bay from the south (worst-case scenario for local flooding). One of them was Cuban cigar manufacturer Vicente Martínez Ybor, who left Key West in 1885 to establish operations in Tampa; within a few years, cigars had become the city's trademark, as well as its main industry. Tampa was the embarkation point (189) for troops bound for Cuba, including those of Theodore Roosevelt, during the Spanish-American War. .