Tampa Bay Hotel: Henry B. Plant's 19th century Florida resort retains its Victorian gilt and grandeur after more than a century

My monochrome post on July 6th of the minarets of the Tampa Bay Hotel and the family history and photographs shared by Lois of Tallahassee Daily Photo prompted me to show an entirely different view of the original hotel that is not visible in the photo of the minarets. This scene is taken facing the West Veranda entrance to the original hotel lobby. Guests would arrive here by train rather than on the other side facing the Hillsborough River. The tennis courts and horse racing track were also on this side but are long gone. The Florida State Fairgrounds took the track years ago and and now the campus of the growing University of Tampa has expanded well beyond those original hotel grounds. (We are proud of the university, one of the best private schools in the country.) The other photo - do click to enlarge - is taken from this side (the black and white was from the east) and the bottom shot is of the breathtaking domed ceiling of the hotel's Fletcher Lounge. This is where guests would dine. It is an incredible space and looks just as it did when the hotel opened in 1891. A dinner was held in this room in 1998 to commemorate and celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Spanish-American War. We were greeted by re-enactors portraying Colonel Teddy Roosevelt and Mr. and Mrs. Henry Plant They were entertaining, very authentic and helped to transport us back in time. They used an original hotel menu to recreate an exquisite meal. This is where Lois' grandparents would have dined. The menu and many other items from the hotel are in the collection of the Henry B. Plant Museum. The men were given gifts of Tampa cigars and the women beautiful Spanish fans. I hoped to show you what incredible architecture and decoration greeted hotel guests when they arrived more than a century ago. The place still delivers on its promise after more than a hundred years. (But it doesn't have rooms for honeymooners any longer.)

Marvel at the minarets of the amazing Tampa Bay Hotel: A study in black and white

The most recognizable icons on Tampa's skyline are the magnificent minarets of the Tampa Bay Hotel. A gentleman named Henry Bradley Plant is solely responsible for dreaming the almost unimaginable. Tampa was a very small town in the 1890s. The population was only about 700 in 1880 while Ybor City, just east of Tampa, was already a larger town, more affluent and a major player in the cigar industry. Thousands of men and women were employed in every aspect of the manufacturing and selling of cigars. After Ybor City was incorporated into Tampa in 1887, Tampa grew to over 5,500 residents. And most made their living from cigars. Into this small town came Henry Plant. A wealthy man who had made his fortune with hotels, railroads and steamships, he planned to build a hotel that would lure visitors and guests who would travel on his railroad from points north. Tampa would be at the terminus and they would step from their train car onto the west veranda and into the lobby of his grandiose hotel. Plant succeeded in bringing a level of luxury to his tropical resort unlike any in the state. (It is still awe inspiring today.) The hotel rose along the banks of the Hillsborough River, right across from the town of Tampa. The hotel's Moorish architecture was as startling and magical in the 1890s as it is today. Open only from December to April each year, the hotel's staff entertained their wealthy guests with every kind of diversion from game hunting, fishing, and boating on the river and bay to horse racing and tennis. The minarets atop the hotel were distinctive and memorable a century ago as they greeted the trains and passengers who must have stood in the lobby in disbelief. Today, the Tampa Bay Hotel, recognized as a United States National Historic Landmark, is part of the University of Tampa and is carefully preserved and maintained to provide a view of our city's and nation's history during the turn-of-the-century Victorian era. Headquarters to the United States Army during the Spanish American War in 1898, the Tampa Bay Hotel welcomed many famous guests over the years. If your curiosity has been tweaked, please visit the Henry B. Plant Museum website. It's a great story. And the minarets, which so proudly represent Tampa, still amaze everyone who sees them on our skyline. (And, yes, you can go up inside them but I'm told it is very hot and humid. ) Please visit Monochrome Weekly for other images of our world as seen in black, white and subtle shades of gray.

It's Not High-Speed Rail but It's OUR Union Station

Yes, Tampa does have train service. It’s not high-speed rail, which has been talked about for many years and may one day happen, but we are served by a railroad and have been for well over a hundred years. Henry B. Plant brought his railway here to serve his wealthy guests vacationing at the grand, Moorish-style Tampa Bay Hotel in the 1890s. Not long after the U.S. Army encamped here and road the rails in 1898 before setting sail from Port Tampa for Cuba and the Spanish-American War. So, yes, although Tampa’s history of train travel isn’t long when compared to many U.S. cities and foreign capitals, we’re proud of Tampa Union Station. It was built in 1912 and was served by the Atlantic Coast Line, Seaboard Air Line and the Tampa & Gulf Coast railroads. It was designed by J.F. Leitner in the Italian Renaissance Revival style. In 1974, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in recognition of its architectural and historic significance. Through most of the 20th century, its beautiful lobby welcomed people from all over North America. It was the the place that saw soldiers and airmen off to two world wars. Through its doors they came to say goodbye, duffel bags slung over shoulders, to board trains for unknown and faraway lands. And families, wives and children welcomed home veterans of our wars. Onto its platforms thousands of passengers took their first steps as they began to discover the wilds and wonders (and heat) of Florida’s Gulf Coast and its natural beauty (and Weeki Wachee Springs, carved coconut heads and Shell Factory stores only to be followed decades later by Disney, Mickey, Space Mountain and EPCOT.) The sounds and hugs of grandparents visiting their grandchildren. Young pilots coming home to marry their sweethearts. Shipyard workers heading down to the docks to build and repair ocean-going vessels. Businessmen returning home after travels up and down the Eastern seaboard. But, as train ridership fell over the years, and the popularity, cost and and ease of automobile and airline travel grew, the station began to fall into disrepair. By 1984, the beautiful station was closed and the passengers who still road the rails used a temporary building. But, the public and dedicated preservationists recognized that a tremendous part of our history was represented in the station, a history worth restoring and reopening. Union Station was acquired in 1991 by the non-profit Tampa Union Station Preservation & Redevelopment. After many hours of work and millions of dollars in restoration funds, it re-opened in 1998 and was one of the first buildings to be designated a Tampa Landmark by the city’s Historic Preservation Ordinance. (Visit Tampa Florida Photo for additional photos.) The station reopened to Amtrak passengers and the public that same year. Today, the station serves as a stop for Amtrak’s New York-Miami overnight Silver Star, as well as providing connections to Orlando, Lakeland, Pinellas Park-St. Petersburg, Bradenton, Sarasota, Port Charlotte, and Ft. Myers. It’s still the only train station in the city. Never been another. Today, a permanent endowment ensures that the station and its proud history will endure for many generations. All aboard.