Tampa Bay History Center

LOCATION

801 Water Street,
Tampa, FL 33602

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PHONE

813-228-0097

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HOURS AND ADMISSION

HOURS AND ADMISSION

 Daily 10 a.m.- 5 p.m. 

Adult, $16.95; Child (0-6), $0.00;
Senior (60+), $14.95; Youth (7-17), $12.95
College Student, $14.95


With more than 100,000 annual visitors, the History Center is one of Tampa’s premier cultural venues, and an anchor of the city’s cultural arts district. The History Center’s hands-on exhibit galleries, educational programs and community events offer a fun, entertaining and educational experience for visitors and locals of all ages. Tampa History Center includes three floors of permanent and temporary exhibition galleries focusing on 12,000 years of Florida’s history.


Beginning with a look at Florida’s first peoples, who inhabited the peninsula some 10,000 years ago, and the arrival of European explorers in the 1500s, to Tampa Bay’s modern role as a port city, industrial capital of west central Florida and a draw for tourists and visitors the world over, the History Center tells the story of Tampa Bay’s and Florida’s history, heritage and culture. It is also home to the Touchton Map Library/Florida Center for Cartographic Education. The only cartographic research center of its kind in the state, the TML/FCCE is houses one of the most comprehensive collections of Florida cartography in the world, with holdings spanning five centuries.

The Florida's First People exhibit features original and replica artifacts from pre-European contact ranging from the Paleoindian Period (12,000 B.C.-6,000 B.C.) through the Mississippian Period (1,000 A.D.-1,600 A.D.). Tools, weapons, and pottery are displayed, along with original artwork by artists Theodore Morris, Mike Reagan, and Christopher Still. Engage in the European Exploration Story by using an oversized map of the Atlantic Ocean. This exhibit details the arrival of Spanish and French explorers who landed in Florida at the beginning the 16th Century. Artifacts are related to Spanish exploration, including period clothing, weapons, and tools. Immerse yourself in the Seminole and Miccosukee Story in The Charles L. Knight Gallery, which features a collection of Seminole and Miccosukee artifacts, including clothing, patchwork, jewelry, baskets, tools, and weapons. Visitors can enjoy a multisensory theater experience, Coacoochee’s Story, and view a replica chickee—a structure made of palmetto thatch over a cypress log frame.
See their website for a list of other exciting exhibits.


page information credit: Tampa Bay History Center
photos from the sources listed above, as well as publicly posted online sites with thanks to the contributors