Then: The intersection of Lafayette Street and Grand Central Avenue, though located in Hyde Park, marked the unofficial edge of downtown Tampa. This photo, taken in 1927 looking east toward downtown, shows the changing landscape evocative of 1920s Tampa. The apartment building on the left and Tampa’s version of the iconic Flatiron Building — the Lafayette Arcade — were newly built, as was Snow Park at the apex. In contrast, the bungalow next to the apartments was not the only older home seeing new life during the land boom.
Now:The view of this intersection is quite different today, though Snow Park and the Lafayette Arcade stand as reminders of the past. The University of Tampa has continued to grow and bring change to the environment. New apartments and a modern downtown skyline also dominate the scene. Gone are the streetcar tracks that connected so much of Tampa’s urban and suburban neighborhoods.
Rodney Kite-Powell is a Tampa-born author, the official historian of Hillsborough County and the director of the Touchton Map Library at the Tampa Bay History Center, where he has worked since 1995.
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