A Brief Timeline of Tampa Bay History
1528, Narváez Expedition arrived near Tampa to start colonization1763, Great Britain acquired Florida and what is now Tampa Bay was named Hillsborough Bay, for Lord Hillsborough, who at the time was Secretary of State for the American Colonies, the County would later be named Hillsborough County1783, Spain gets control of Florida and what would later become Tampa Florida as the Treaty of Paris was signed at the culmination of the American Revolution
1823, "Cantonment Brooke" or Fort Brooke was established in waht is now downtown Tampa Florida by Colonel George Mercer Brooke on what is now known as Tampa Bay
1861-1865 Florida seceded to the Confederate States of America and Fort Brooke is controlled by Confederate troops
1885, the Tampa Board of Trade brokered a Tampa real estate deal with Vicente Martinez Ybor to relocate his cigar manufacturing to Tampa
1891, Florida and Tampa real estate and railroad tycoon Henry B. Plant built a luxury resort hotel called the Tampa Bay Hotel which now houses the University of Tampa
1920s, construction of Bayshore Boulevard, running along Hillsborough Bay from Downtown Tampa to some of the finest Tampa real estate and Tampa homes of South Tampa.
1949, Babe Zaharias Golf Course in the Forest Hills area of Tampa is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. 'Babe' owned a Tampa home nearby.
1929, over 500,000,000 cigars were hand rolled in Ybor city and the Tampa Florida area
1956, University of South Florida was founded, sparking development in northern Tampa and nearby Temple Terrace.
1976, Tampa Bay Buccaneers became Tampa Florida's first major sports franchise
1973, First Financial Bank of Florida, the first skyscraper in Tampa is finished
1992, The National Hockey League created the Tampa Bay Lightning
