Sulphur Springs: An Enduring Legacy
An Introduction
The story of Sulphur Springs is one of endurance. Established in the late 1800s and early 1900s as a Florida tourist destination, the community has faced many hardships over the last century. Today it is often depicted in the media as a hotbed of crime and poverty, but that is not the story we explore here. Rather, we display the history of a dynamic neighborhood — an enduring community with a rich and diverse heritage to share. As another generation ages and new people arrive, it is time to tell the story of Sulphur Springs.
Segregation in Sulphur Springs
From its inception and until the passing of the Civil Rights Act in 1964, Sulphur Springs was a historically segregated neighborhood. People considered white had full access to and use of all public facilities, including swimming pools, schools, recreational venues, movie theaters, and restaurants. African Americans and other people of color were denied equal access to these same resources. This means that many of the water and tourism related resources highlighted in this exhibit were off-limits to those people identified as non-white, such as African Americans, Cubans, and Jews.
In Sulphur Springs, race and class have had a powerful influence on the development of the community and the experiences of its residents. This exhibit uses a combination of photographs, historical documents and oral histories to begin telling the diverse story of this unique, enduring community, highlighting its touristic beginnings without ignoring racial injustices and the effects of past segregation.
Where is Sulphur Springs?
“Five miles north of Tampa, at the end of the streetcar line.”
Sulphur Springs is a one-square mile neighborhood north of downtown Tampa. Its southern boundary is the Hillsborough River and its northern border runs along Busch Boulevard. It is flanked on either side by Florida Avenue to the west and Rowlett Park Drive to the east.
During the era of segregation, the area known as Spring Hill was considered the African-American neighborhood of Sulphur Springs. At the time it encompassed Avenues 1 through 5. Today, these streets have different names: Skagway, Okaloosa, Humphrey, Eskimo, and Yukon.
Today you probably arrived by car. While some early tourists did arrive the same way, often crossing the old bridge that spanned the Hillsborough River, many people also reached Sulphur Springs by streetcar. Sulphur Springs was connected to Tampa by the streetcar line in 1908.
The Water Tower
The Water Tower, still visible today from Interstate 275, supplied water for the growing demand in Sulphur Springs during its tourist heyday. Built in 1927, it was designed in a Mediterranean architectural style, similar to that of The Arcade. Standing 210 feet tall, the tower is unique in that it was constructed entirely of poured concrete rather than out of individual blocks. Water tanks housed in the top of the tower could hold up to 125,000 gallons of water.
Sulphur Springs Water Tower
Hampton Dunn Postcard Collection at Special and Digital Collections, Tampa Library, University of South Florida
Advertisement for Tower Drive-In Theater
Source: Cinema Treasures
In the 1970s the Tower Drive-In Theater was popular with the community but was also vandalized and painted with graffiti. In 1989 the tower was designated a historic landmark, pressure washed and painted with graffiti-proof paint. Today, the Water Tower is no longer in use and is owned by the City of Tampa as part of the 13-acre River Tower Park. The Water Tower was often featured on postcards sent by tourists to their friends and family in the early 1900s. It was and remains an architectural symbol of Sulphur Springs.
A Segregated Reality
Like most communities in the southern United States, Sulphur Springs was a segregated community, and not everyone shared in the resources brought by tourism. Oral histories recorded with some of Sulphur Springs’ earliest residents noted the limited access that people of color had to the pool and the spring. One early resident described Spring Hill, the African-American neighborhood of Sulphur Springs, this way:
“It was a small place. Five streets. We were in a box. And I guess this is where we got our strength from, being right there together. We were forced together to become a strong community.”
— Taft Richardson
Graduation Ceremony at an African-American Church in Seminole Heights
Tampa Bay History Center Collections
African-American workers contributed extensively to the function of Sulphur Springs as a tourist destination. Many worked as cooks, maids, janitors, and groundskeepers, and some worked as Alligator wrestlers. Others traveled daily to staff the affluent homes and upscale golf course of Temple Terrace, a few miles away. Barred from using the same resources as the tourists, African Americans created space for social and recreational activities in other ways, using parts of the natural Florida environment that were free to all. The Hillsborough River was used for swimming and fishing, as well as baptisms. Many people relied heavily on their churches for recreation. African-American Churches offered movie nights and sports activities such as roller-skating and tennis.
“In most recreation places, restaurants, they would have something [a sign], ‘white only,’ or ‘no colored.’ Arcade building or restaurant, you just couldn’t go in there unless you went to the back door.” — Earl Glymph
The Arcade in Sulphur Springs
The Arcade, also known as the Richardson Building, was constructed between 1926 and 1927 by Josiah Richardson. It was built in a Mediterranean architectural style as a one-stop-shopping mall for tourists and locals alike. In addition to a second floor filled with hotel rooms, apartments, and office space, the first floor became the nation’s first indoor mall. The Arcade had a post office, sheriff’s office, bank, pharmacy, furniture and appliance store, jeweler, liquor store, bakery, pool hall, barbershop, and grocery — all under one roof.
The Richardson Building, Sulphur Springs
1934, State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory
“The arcade was the heart, it was just the neatest place, you get root beer and hot dog for twenty-five cents, you could get everything. The arcade was the first type mall in the United States, all the older folks could drive there, cross one road, pay utility bills. Everything was right here.”
— Dan Chesser, Sulphur Springs Resident
The Arcade, like the Sulphur Springs Water Tower, became an architectural symbol of the Sulphur Springs community. Unfortunately, its glory days were short-lived. In the 1930s a combination of factors forced Josiah Richardson to sell his building. In 1933, the Tampa Electric Company’s dam broke after heavy rain from a hurricane and much of Sulphur Springs was flooded.
Sulphur Springs also saw the impacts of the Great Depression and World War II. Josiah Richard sold the Arcade to J.T. Hendrick, who maintained it for several decades, into the 1970s. After his passing in 1974, the Hendrick Estates sold the property to the neighboring Tampa Greyhound Track. Two years later in 1976, the Arcade was demolished and replaced by a parking lot. Many members of the Sulphur Springs community protested and grieved its destruction.
While for many, the architectural grandeur and innovation of the arcade evoked nostalgic memories of fun and leisure, the arcade was also a segregated site, reserved for white patrons. African Americans worked in the arcade but were excluded from freely accessing it. Unsurprisingly, it was remembered by some as a symbol of a painful past and people expressed mixed feelings when it was demolished.
Panorama of Sulphur Springs
1927. Tampa Bay History Center Collections
Florida’s Coney Island
Starting in the late 1800s, Sulphur Springs became a significant tourist destination. The spring water, rumored to have therapeutic qualities and other health benefits, attracted visitors from across Tampa Bay and around the country.
Swimming Pool, Sulphur Springs
Postcard from 1907
Special and Digital Collections, Tampa Library, University of South Florida
What started out as a humble attraction became one of Florida’s first real tourist resorts. Wealthy real-estate investor Mr. Josiah Richardson purchased much of the land and began developing it into a tourist haven. As these images show, Sulphur Springs evolved from a natural Florida swimming hole to a full-blown tourist destination, complete with a toboggan slide and competitive swimming pool.
Even in the early 1900s, a true Florida experience was incomplete without the iconic alligator. Here we see tourists interacting with Florida’s most famous indigenous species.
An Enduring Legacy
Sulphur Springs has gone through many changes since its heyday as a center for tourism in the 1920s and 30s. Some local residents say that the area took a turn for the worse after the Arcade was torn down in 1976.
The Spring itself was closed to the public in 1986 due to high concentrations of coliform bacteria. The pollution stems from short-sighted management that directed storm water and street runoff into a series of sinkholes three miles north of the spring. Experts believe it is now almost impossible to restore the spring. Today, residents can still visit the Sulphur Springs pool, even though it is no longer fed by water from the spring. The Sulphur Springs Park’s other amenities include picnic areas and a sand volleyball court.
Greyhound Track Program
1938-39. Tampa Bay History Center Collections
Today, Sulphur Springs is no longer known for tourism. Rather, it has a reputation for less desirable things, like crime, prostitution, and drugs. To focus on this, however, is to do the rich history of this community a great disservice. Therefore, the Sulphur Springs Museum and Heritage Center will continue to work to tell the story of this dynamic community and to bring people together to learn and share. By acknowledging the impact and implications of racial segregation and the many ways in which people experienced recreation and leisure we highlight a more holistic view of the history of this community and its resources. There are many more stories to tell, including but not limited to the history of the Harbor Club, the Greyhound Track, the Tower Theater, and the Springs Theater.
Acknowledgements
This exhibition would not have been possible without the help of the following individuals and organizations:
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Norma and Joseph Robinson, Sulphur Springs Museum and Heritage Center
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Antoinette Jackson, Ph.D.
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Elizabeth Bird, Ph.D.
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USF Department of Anthropology
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USF Heritage Research Lab
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USF Humanities Institute
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Florida Humanities Council and Smithsonian Institution’s Museums on Main Street Program
Exhibition Curator: Vivian Gornik, M.A.