The Plant City History & Photo Archives recently formed a partnership with the Tampa Bay History Center and the Brandon Historical and Preservation Society to connect local history. Once this partnership was formed, the three groups realized that there was a lot of historical overlap between the communities. The overlap that connected the communities were the railroads.
“When we had our meet-and-greet meeting, we wanted to collaborate on a history talk,” said Libby Hopkins, community outreach manager for The Plant City History & Photo Archives. “During our meeting, we realized that the local railroads connected our communities, so we wanted our first history talk be about the railroads.”
To discuss the importance of the development of railroads for the growth of the area, Gil Gott, archive historian; Michael Wigh, author, Henry B. Plant Museum docent and Hillsborough County historian; and Rodney Kite-Powell, Tampa Bay History Center director, attended.
The three stations discussed were Tampa Union Station, Limona Station and Plant City Station.
“Tampa Union Station was the first station picked … because of its rich history with the Tampa community,” Hopkins said.
Tampa Union Station, located at 601 N. Nebraska Ave. in Tampa, lies at the eastern edge of downtown Tampa and stands as the gateway to Ybor City.
Designed by architect J.F. Leitner of Wilmington, North Carolina, who later became a Tampa resident himself, the Italian Renaissance Revival-style building was opened on May 15, 1912, by the Tampa Union Station Company. Its original purpose was to combine passenger operations for the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, the Seaboard Air Line Railroad and the Tampa Northern Railroad at a single site.
Tampa Union Station served railroad passengers throughout the Great Depression, both World Wars and into the Amtrak era. In 1974, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Restoration of Tampa Union Station was a multiyear effort, with Rowe Architects serving as historic preservation architect for the project. Restoration was completed in May 1998 and reopened to Amtrak passengers and the public. CSX donated the station to the city of Tampa that same year.
The Plant City Photo Archives is located in Historic Downtown Plant City at 106 S. Evers St. in Plant City. Call 813-754-1578 or visit the website at www.plantcityphotoarchives.org.
