Liquor Store and Shops at Central Avenue and East Harrison Street, Tampa

Creator

Progress Village

Files

Preview

Creation Date

1-1-1957

Time Period

circa 1957-1960

Abstract

People sitting on benches and standing near a liquor store and other shops at the corner of East Harrison Street and Central Avenue in the historical Black district of Tampa, Florida (often called "The Scrub"), before Interstate 4 was built in its place. The old Cotton Club location can be seen in the distance. This photo was used during a presentation promoting Progress Village, a suburb community designed to provide Tampa's Black residents with homes and yards in satisfactory surroundings with adequate zoning.

Keywords

Retail stores, Cotton Club (Fla.), Black wall streets

Extent

1 color photograph

Subject: geographic

Hillsborough County (Fla.); Tampa (Fla.)

Physical Collection

Progress Village Collection

Box

3

Folder

15

Digital Date

2024

Media Type

Color photographs

Note

"The Scrub" neighborhood was founded by freed enslaved people after the Civil War just north of downtown Tampa and near Central Avenue's thriving Black-owned businesses. It consisted of over 600 homes, housing workers for nearby lumber mills. It was declared a slum by the City of Tampa in the 1950s and razed to create the Central Park Village housing development. Parts of the area were razed again to build I-275 in the 1950s.

At one point, this corner housed the Pyramid Hotel. The Pyramid Hotel was a hotel started by Black businessman Isaac Gardner. Gardner would go on to own several businesses and hotels on the Central Avenue corridor, a main gathering place for the Black residents of Tampa. Located on the corner of Central Avenue and Harrison Streets in Tampa, it later became the Rodgers Hotel. The Central Avenue area was razed first for a public housing development called Central Park Village in the 1950s, and then again to build I-275 in the 1960s.

Identifier

progress_village_images_1008

Recommended Citation

Progress Village, "Liquor Store and Shops at Central Avenue and East Harrison Street, Tampa" (1957). Progress Village Collection - Images. Image 9.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/progress_village_images/9