Rodney Carlisle - The Art of Florida: A Guide to the Sunshine States Museums, Galleries, Arts Districts and Colonies

Some of the first landings of Spanish explorers in Florida were in Tampa Bay, but the region saw little settlement by Europeans or Americans until the United States acquired Florida in 1821. As the major port on Tampa Bay, the city of Tampa has developed into a center for shipping and naval operations since that period.

During the Civil War, the port was blockaded by the U.S. Navy; and later the city was occupied by Union forces, while Confederate blockade runners operated from the sheltered bay and nearby port towns like Bradenton. Tampa received a boost in national attention when Theodore Roosevelt assembled his force of Rough Riders there as part of the U.S. attack on Spanish-held Cuba during the Spanish-American War of 1898 that led to the independence of Cuba and the U.S. acquisition of Guantanamo and Puerto Rico.

Today, the large MacDill Air Force Base, situated at the southern tip of the city on the bay, is the headquarters for Central Command, which oversees U.S. armed forces in the Middle East. The city of Tampa has long been the economic anchor of the Tampa Bay area, with that military base supplemented by a commercial international airport; many light industries; a thriving financial and business center; and more than twenty colleges, universities, and other institutions of higher education.

An arts district located along the Hillsborough River just a few blocks to the north of the downtown business district houses a childrens museum, an art museum, and a performing arts center. But like several other arts districts around the United States, this city-designated section does not host either art galleries or studio-residences of artists. Rather than suggesting a place where new art is generated, the arts district term here refers to the presence of nonprofit, publicly funded facilities that showcase the visual and the performing arts. However, the city parks department does operate a number of arts centers in various neighborhoods, which offer classes for children and adults in a wide variety of arts and crafts described below on pages 115116.