JOSEPH ROBLES - The Robles are an old and important family in the history of Tampa beginning with Joseph Robles, an immigrant from Madrid, Spain who came to the United States in the nineteenth century. Robles was born in 1817 and migrated as a stowaway at the age of 15 from his native Spain. He is said to have jumped ship in 1832 in Georgia and headed to Florida after marrying in Georgia.  Read about the Robles and see original land surveys of Tampa that show where the Robles properties were located.  If you work in downtown Tampa, chances are you drive through it every day. 

The Robles Family at Tampapix    NEW: Photos of Judge Francis Robles

After exploring the Tampa Bay area, Hernando de Soto's 16th century expedition was the first to document the discovery of the Mississippi River and the vast plains of the Midwest.  In a multi-volume historical account of the history of Colorado, historian Frank Hall describes the Native Americans' reaction to their first encounter with the conquistadores' horses.  "We find in the narrative of Coronado's march that the natives were astounded at the sight of horses, and were inclined to worship them as gods.  Like incidents occurred all along the line of de Soto's expeditions from Tampa [Florida] to Kansas."   

In January of 1860, Congress considered a bill to organize territories of the Midwest.  Due to objections over naming territories after presidents (because there were not enough to go around), "Jefferson" was ruled out.  An attempt to enlarge the boundary of the territory of present-day Kansas, to include the settled portion of present day Nebraska as far north as the Platte River,  failed.  The following list of names was considered to name the new territory:  Tampa, Idaho, Nemara, Colorado, San Juan, Lula, Arapahoe and Weappollao.  IDAHO was chosen. 
 

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The Santa Fe Trail, established in 1822, cut across present-day Marion County, Kansas.  Numerous stops sprang up along the trail, and one of them was eventually named Tampa, established in April of 1887.  Though Tampa, Kansas seems to precede Tampa , FL by a few months, Tampa, FL was originally incorporated in 1855, but was abolished in 1869 in part because residents had no money to pay taxes, and the city had no money to pay its bills.  It was reincorporated in 1887. Tampa, Kansas currently has a population of about 144.  There is also an unincorporated area in Colorado named Tampa. 

Read about de Soto's Tampa Bay area exploration & origin of the name "Tampa."

Blanche Armwood was a Tampa native and the first African-American woman from Florida to graduate from an accredited law school--Howard University.  Armwood High School in Seffner, which opened in 1984, was named after her.

An early 20th-century Renaissance woman, Ms. Armwood steadfastly held the values of hard work, religious morality, and judicial equality before the American consciousness. She used diplomacy to present these ideals to the American public. Called a "Female Booker T. Washington," Armwood served as liaison between the black and white races. She was administrator, educator, innovator, writer, and poet.

Read about Blanche Armwood at Tampapix

See T-38 Talon, F-5A, C-5 Galaxy, P-40 Warhawk, P-47 Thunderbolt, B-24 Liberator, P-51 Mustang, A-7 Corsair, F-4 Phantom & F-111 Aardvark
Also, read about the history of MacDill AFB, from before site selection at Catfish Point through World War 2.
See photos of life at MacDill Field from WW2 era, published in Drew Field's weekly news, "Drew Field Echoes"
 

Shortly before 7 a.m. on May 19, 1944, a four-engine B-17 bomber crashed on Abdella Street in West Tampa just east of Drew Field, the giant wartime base where today's Tampa International Airport is located.  Read about the heroic efforts of neighborhood residents to rescue the 9-man crew from the flaming wreckage.

SNAKES ON A PLANE! - Dec. 9, 1969

On the above date, a C-46 cargo plane made a forced landing in the parking area of Al Lopez field. It came to rest against a utility pole, just 500 feet from a house which was across Himes Ave.  Stories circulated amongst the locals that it carried reptiles and that snakes escaped to roam the neighborhood until they were rounded up. Part of this is true; read on!

Read about Butterfly McQueen's life and career and see her parents' 1910 census in Tampa

Nothing says "Tampa" like a mouth-watering Cuban sandwich

Ask 10 people what goes into making an exceptional Cuban Sandwich and you'll likely get ten different responses that vary in ingredients, preparation and appearance. The debate can get as hot as the bread just out of the oven--not just over the ingredients, but even on the order they're stacked, the cut and pressing.  It may depend on your interpretation of "Cuban"  --traditional as it was in Cuba, or how Tampa/Ybor City's rich ethnic mix caused it to evolve early on.  Either way, there's not much variation in the recipe and preparation. 

But it is the bread that makes or breaks a Cuban sandwich; as with any building, the foundation is important.  See Cuban Bread - first baked in Ybor City's "La Joven Francesca" bakery, 1896.

In my opinion, the foremost authority on restaurant history in Florida is Tampa's own Andy Huse; Assistant Librarian at USF, Tampa Library Special Collections Department / Florida Studies Center. 

The following are excerpts from his article "Welcome to Cuban Sandwich City" which appears in Volume 1, Issue 2 of Cigar City Magazine. 

Beginning in 1886, immigrants from Spain, Italy, and Cuba fled poverty and warfare to seek new lives in Tampa.  An erratic cycle of feast and famine continued in Ybor City for fifty years. The Cuban sandwich rose in popularity during the 1920s, when electric sandwich presses and toasters became more common.  During tough times, Ybor City had the example of Cuban bread to follow. When Cuba struggled for independence from Spain in the late 1800s, citizens there faced hunger and hardship. Cuban bakers responded by stretching their bread into long, thin loaves to provide small slices for rationing. The practice never changed in Tampa; but today, bread in Cuba (when it can be obtained at all) is short and more round.

	A. J. Schleman biting into loaf of Cuban bread at Independent Life and Accident Insurance Co., 1950

Tampa's most famous sandwich would not be possible without the stretched Cuban loaf. Ybor City split the loaf and filled it with mojo roast pork, sugar-cured ham, salami, Swiss cheese, pickles and mustard. Each of the main ingredients came from Ybor City's dominant ethnic groups: the Spaniards supplied fine glazed ham; bread and mojo pork came from the Cubans; and the Italians supplied salami.   Below:  "La Joven Francesca" Bakery where the first Cuban bread was baked, 1896.  It is now the Ybor State Museum.

When one examines the labor that went in to making an old-fashioned Cuban, it is more under-standable that today's sandwiches fall short so often. Like so many simple things in early Ybor City, the Cuban sandwich was elevated to an art and craft. Restaurateurs prepared every ingredient in painstaking fashion. If modern sandwich slingers take some short cuts, it is hard to blame them. Their profits may not suffer, but the cult of the Cuban does.

Tampa's Cuban sandwich is a dying culinary breed. By the time it became a recognized and revered tradition in the 1940s, the real thing was already fading fast. The true Cuban sandwich – conceived in Cuba and perfected in Tampa – lived and died with Ybor City. And for the uninitiated, Ybor City died some time between the Great Depression and urban renewal's bulldozers in 1965. Wet, cheap boiled ham and processed pork loaves give us little indication of what a real Cuban sandwich should taste like. It doesn't help that most places pile on lettuce, mayo, and tomato, which is like adding a glass of water – it dilutes the flavor. When done right, the sandwich showcases the contrast between the dry crust of Cuban bread with the rich mingling of melted fats within. The bold combination of salty ham and salami, the garlic and vinegar overtones of the roast pork, the sharp taste of pickle and mustard – are all married by the bread and subtle charm of Swiss cheese.

In 1957, Manuel Torres, a long-time Ybor restaurant worker, volunteered to make Cuban sandwiches in what even then was known as the "old fashioned way" for a reporter. Torres soaked a select pork roast overnight in a mojo marinade of lemon juice, salt, fresh garlic, oregano and vinegar. He then parboiled the pork with onions, celery and garlic and then roasted it. A whole smoked ham was then parboiled in the same mixture. Torres trimmed excess fat from the ham and coated it in sugar. He then melted the sugar onto the ham with a hot iron. The resulting caramelized sugar gives the ham a distinctive taste. Drawn by the irresistible aroma, salivating onlookers gathered around the storefront as the sugar transformed into a thin amber glaze. Torres then carved the meat into thin slices: pork, ham and peppered Genoa salami. Imported Swiss cheese, sour dill pickles, mustard and Cuban bread rounded out the sandwich. He layered the ingredients onto the bread in traditional order: first the ham, then pork, salami, cheese, pickle, and mustard spread only on the top slice of the sandwich. "It is always done that way," Torres said.

Original Cuban sandwiches come from Ybor City; everything else is just a sub. --Andy Huse
From Andy's article in Cigar City Magazine

Adamo, Dale Mabry and MacDill--Not Just a Drive, a Highway and an Avenue/Air Force Base

Bruce B. Downs, Bearss, Fowler, Fletcher, Howard, Hanna, Zack, Ashley, Twiggs, Lambright, Buffalo, Swann, Davis Blvd., Fortune Street, Platt Street, Hyde Park

Read about Tampa in 1886 from "Webb's 1886 Tampa City Directory" and see the street listings