Tampa Bay History Center

Tampa Bay History Center

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Established	2009
Location	Tampa, Florida, United States
Coordinates	27°56′34″N 82°27′01″W / 27.942702°N 82.45041°W / 27.942702; -82.45041
Website	www.tampabayhistorycenter.org

Tampa Bay History Center is a history museum in Tampa, Florida. Exhibits include coverage of the Tampa Bay area's first native inhabitants, Spanish conquistadors, and historical figures who shaped the area's history, as well as a reproduction of a 1920s cigar store. The museum is on the waterfront at 801 Old Water Street in Tampa's Channelside District. It opened on January 17, 2009. The History Center building is 60,000 square feet (5,600 m²) with 25,000 square feet (2,300 m²) of exhibit space.^[1][2][3]

The Columbia Cafe

The Tampa Bay History Center includes three floors of permanent and temporary exhibition space covering 12,000 years of Florida history, with a special focus on Tampa Bay and the Gulf Coast. The History Center has a museum store, classrooms, the Witt Research Center (a branch of the Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System), a map gallery, an event hall and the Columbia Cafe (a branch of Ybor City's Columbia Restaurant).

Tampa Bay History Center Timeline[]

Hillsborough County was 14 times its present size when it was established by the Florida Territorial Legislature in 1834. Its boundaries included all or part of 24 present-day counties, stretching from Ocala to Lake Okeechobee and St. Petersburg to Orlando.^[4]

In the early 1880s, Tampa residents expressed concern that there was no organized effort to preserve and display local artifacts. In the January 19, 1882, issue of The Sunland Tribune, County Judge J. G. Knapp wrote, "... no time should be lost in snatching the historical artifacts from the waste and death of oblivion. Who shall do it?"

Fast forward 100 years:

• 1986: The Hillsborough County Commission assembles a taskforce to explore the feasibility of creating a regional history museum.
• 1989: The History Museum of Tampa-Hillsborough County, Inc., a 501(c) 3 not-for-profit, is established by a group of private citizens led by Tampa businessman J. Thomas Touchton.

Mr. Touchton serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees until 2000.

• 1993: A small museum space opens in the Shoppes of Harbour Island, showcasing objects from the museum's collection and from other local and statewide institutions.
• 1993: The History Museum of Tampa-Hillsborough County, Inc. officially changes its name to the Tampa Bay History Center (TBHC).
• 1995: The Hillsborough County Commission charges TBHC with the care, in perpetuity, of the County collection.
• 1996: TBHC moves to the Tampa Convention Center Annex on Franklin Street, serving the community with permanent and traveling exhibitions, public programs, tours, outreach, research assistance, and publications.
• 1998: The Hillsborough County Commission commits $17 million in Community Investment Tax funds toward the planning and construction of a new museum building for TBHC.
• 2000: Attorney George B. Howell III succeeds J. Thomas Touchton as Chairman of TBHC's Board of Trustees and continues the commitment of the board, staff, members, and volunteers to acquire a permanent home for the museum.
• 2004: Tampa and Hillsborough County leaders sign an agreement to build the new History Center in Cotanchobee-Fort Brooke Park on a 2.4-acre tract secured by the City of Tampa through a grant from the Florida Communities Trust.
• February 2006: To complete the process of building the new museum, The Campaign to Create the Tampa Bay History Center Experience is authorized by the Board of Trustees.
• September 2006: The Capital Campaign is launched, requiring the History Center to raise $28 million in private funds, $17 million more than its initial pledge of $11 million to the Hillsborough County Commission. Mr. Touchton chairs the campaign.
• October 2007: Construction begins on the museum's new 60,000-square-foot (5,600 m²) home — Hillsborough County's first publicly owned "Green Building".
• October 2007: Because of the success of the campaign and the need for an additional $4.5 million

to build out the new museum, the Board of Trustees agrees to increase the private campaign goal from $28 million to $32 million.

• March 2008: TBHC closes its museum space on Franklin Street to begin staging for the move into the new building.
• June 2008: Local dignitaries, guests, board members, and staff gather with more than 200 construction workers to celebrate the last milestone of construction — the topping-out of the Tampa Bay History Center.
• June 2008: The History Center receives word that it has been awarded a $1-million challenge grant from the prestigious Kresge Foundation to help build the museum and its exhibits. To receive the $1-million grant, the History Center must complete its fundraising campaign by April 1, 2009.
• January 2009: The History Center celebrates the grand opening of its new facility.
• March 2009: The History Center successfully meets the Kresge Challenge, raising $32 million in private contributions five days ahead of schedule.
• October 2009: The History Center Building, which owned by Hillsborough County, is renamed the J. Thomas Touchton Tampa Bay History Center Building.
• 2012: The History Center becomes a Smithsonian Affiliate museum^[5]
• 2015: The History Center becomes accredited by the American Alliance of Museums^[6]
• 2018: The History Center opens new Treasure Seekers exhibit about Pirates, Conquistators & Shipwrecks^[7]

Exhibits[]

The museum's exhibition galleries explore 500 years of recorded history and 12,000 years of human habitation in the Tampa Bay region in its three floors of exhibitions. These include exhibitions of Florida's First People, teaching visitors about Native groups like the Tocobaga and Timucua, and the "Cigar City" gallery, telling the stories of thousands of immigrant cigar workers from Cuba, Spain and Italy who came to Tampa and earned it the name of the "Cigar City".^[8]

References[]

External links[]

Official website