The Floridan Hotels Artful Comeback

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In 1987 the historic Floridan Hotel, located in downtown Tampa, closed its doors forever.   That final turn of the lock tumblers, sealed the spot where Eckerd and Publix formed their corporations,  and where many great actors would stay when visiting the area.  The Floridan stood tall and proud since its birthday back in 1927.  The 400 room hotel and once tallest building in Tampa was monumental to Tampa’s historic past.  Some of its guests included Elvis Presley, and Gary Cooper even courted Lupe Velez here in 1955.

Since then we watched this once beautiful building,  renowned for having one of the best ballrooms,  fall to vandalism and neglect.  A building that once put Tampa on the map with it’s famous  cliental was crying for help yet nobody listened… until 2005 when Antonios Markopoulous bought the distraught hotel for 6 million dollars.  Mr Markopoulos’s vision is to restore the decaying building back into a luxury hotel that will stand apart from the rest of the skyscrapers in town.

The last time I was downtown Tampa , the sign at the top of the hotel had missing letters, the windows were cracked,  some were missing and had been replaced with graffiti covered wood, and the smell of mold and decay seeped through the cracks in the doors.  This past week, I saw a brand new sign sitting on top of this historic hotel, windows replaced and the old marquee looking better.  The construction has begun and soon, hopefully by 2010 the historic hotel will be back to its glory days.  The hotel will not only add to the redevelopment of downtown  but it will also add to the preservation of Tampa’s history, and help keep an artistic building alive.

Tampa Fire Museum - “Saving” History

Nestled on the corner of Zack and Pierce Street in downtown Tampa stands a building that is the testament to saving lives.  That building was the original Tampa Fire Department, erected sometime in the early 1900s.  The title “Saving History” was chosen for two reasons: one was the fact the people there dedicated their lives to save lives while risking their own; while on the other hand once the fire department moved to another building it also needed saving from a recking ball.

It would have been a shame for this wonderful piece of Tampa’s history to be leveled to a pile of rubble. For instance when it opened they didn’t even use trucks, they had horse drawn carriages that they rode to the fire. Something we would never know had this building been destroyed.  It took a few concerned citizens and the help of the county government to make sure this landmark stayed a part of the downtown heritage. Now its run as a non-profit 501c3 organization.

With five years of work, timeless restoration and running on donated funds the Tampa Fire Museum opened its doors to the public.  Today, you can walk around and see some of the tools the firemen would use, the clothing they wore in the 20s to 60s compared to today.  Go further inside and you can see the “watch out booth”  where a worker would sit inside and listen for dispatches, currently its hooked up to the real 911 call center to replicate what those working the booth would hear.  When you come to the old engine room where the fire engines were stored, you will see one of those classic fire poles the men would frantically slide down upon the call of duty, but also look down at the ground to see the scratch marks of the old horse drawn fire carriages.  The real observer will look at the doors and realize, they are not garage doors at all, they slide open, similar to a stall would for a horse, and in the rear of the engine room you will see a sink, dirty and full of soot, the men used to wash up with after their fire fighting day was over.  It still works and you can wash in the same basin those heroes of yesterday did.

Wander on upstairs to the second floor and see the old bunkers where the men lived waiting for the call of duty; the wood floors were painstakingly restored, but all original, which is now a banquet hall. Downstairs to the back, they have a memorial room to those heroes who died to save the lives and structures of their fellow citizens.

This museum is free to visit but donations are welcome.  They are open Tuesday to Thursday from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM.  They have more artifacts to fill the museum  but they will come as more donations roll in to help offset the costs.  The museum does host birthday parties, banquets and other social events. Its the proud home to the second largest Gasparilla party in Tampa each year too.

This is a great place for the young child dreaming of being a fire-fighter, or someone who may have worked in this building to come remember the good ole days. Its located next door to the current fire rescue station so you can still see the trucks and hear the sirens as they race to save lives. Come experience the history saved to honor those who saved our lives.

720 E. Zack Street
Tampa, FL

Brooksville Heritage Museum - A Haunting Good Time

If you’re looking for something to do that’s fun for the whole family and you don’t want to spend too much money, we have a solution that is not only fun but historic and educational. It’s located right in the heart of downtown Brooksville, in Hernando County. It’s the Brooksville Heritage Museum / May-Stringer House.

This attraction has two sides, a fun side for the whole family, and a dark side fit for adults over the age of 18.  By day, the house is a representation of life back in the 1840s, and one of the first houses settled in Brooksville under the Florida Settlers Act, which gave settlers 160 acres to use as long as they reside in Florida. It’s also filled with wonderful antiques and history from around Brooksville, making it the Brooksville Heritage Museum. By night: a real haunted house for those interested in the paranormal.

Historic Museum by Day

The day tour talks about the home and all the artifacts inside. It was the former home of the Mays’. After the deaths of Mr. May’s wife and two daughters, he moved away, and the house was next inhabited by Dr. Stringer. Dr. Stringer re-designed the house in the unique fashion it now remains, with the tower, because he wanted to have the largest home in the area. Stringer also made the 7 gables to represent the “House of Seven Gables,” something he always admired. After his family moved out, the place was abandoned, and looters destroyed most of the home. The house was later restored to its current condition by the city of Brooksville. They reopened the house as a heritage museum of Brooksville’s past.

The house has a replica one-room school house, a doctor’s room containing medicines and tools typical of what Dr. Stringer would have used on his patients, a telephone/telegraph room, a war room decked with U.S. Military uniforms from the Civil War to World War II, and so much more

The museum offers a guided tour, that lasts around an hour. Admission is $5.00 for adults and $2.00 for children, Tuesday to Saturday from 12:00 P.M. to 3:00 P.M. The tour will give you the history of the home as well as Brooksville’s great past. All money goes toward the upkeep up of the home.

By Night… the Hauntings

Due to its grim past with death the house is considered by one of the most haunted places in Florida; the May’s lost 3 people in the home, his two daughters and his wife giving birth.  Dr. Stringer used the house as a sanatorium during the days before hospitals were around, so many of the terminally ill patients died miserable deaths from causes like Small Pox, Yellow Fever, Scarlett Fever, and others.  The home was also the scene of the first “drive by” shooting in Hernando County (actually “ride by” because the crime was committed on horseback). It’s also said that a WWI soldier returned from war to marry his fiance, only to find that she had married another man when he was away; he then went upstairs and was said to have hung himself in the master bedroom. That claim can’t be proven so it’s only a rumor that may or may not have some truth to it. The May-Stringer house is said to have 8 spirits who reside in the dwelling.

The tour lasts 2 hours! Starting with a history tour of the house concentrating on the most active rooms, they give you more information to the secrets the house holds than you get during the day.  In the second hour, you are released into small groups to pick rooms and do seances and readings.

This tour has an age limit: nobody under is 18 allowed. It costs $20.00 per person and reservations are required. The tour starts at 6:00 P.M. and is offered Friday to Sunday only. The tours will be canceled for groups less than 6.

I personally took both of these tours, the daytime and haunted tours and found them extremely interesting and educational. The house is a work of art in itself and the EVP’s caught during the haunt were phenomenal. For the price, I highly recommend trying these tours and help support the Hernando County Preservation of old homes and history.