1947 Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce City Map or Plan of Tampa, Florida

This is a c. 1947 Tampa Chamber of Commerce city map or plan of Tampa, Florida. The map depicts the region from Tampa Bay to the Temple Terrace Golf Club and the Florida Christian College and from Fowler Street and the Tampa Golf and Country Club to MacDill Air Force Base. Meant to be a tourist map, pictorial vignettes populate the map and highlight area attractions and activities. Numerous golf courses are marked, as are farmer's markets, baseball stadiums, tennis courts, and beaches. Florida's celebrated orange groves also make an appearance. Other sites, that most likely are not on the average tourist's itinerary, are also illustrated, including cigar factories, a cement plant, the police pistol range, and dairy cattle. Only major streets and avenues are depicted, making this map less about getting around Tampa and more about what there is to see and do. An inset map of downtown Tampa is situated in the lower left corner details this part of the city and features vignettes of Union Station, the bus terminal, city hall, the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce, the University of Tampa and the American Hellenic League.

Publication History and Census

A definitive publication history of this map is difficult to determine as no publication information is printed on the map itself. We believe that this map was published by the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce c. 1947 because of the presence of MacDill Air Force Base. Although this installation was founded well before 1947, it would not have been known as an Air Force base until the U.S. Air Force was founded in 1947. We are aware of only one other example, at the Touchton Map Library at the Tampa Bay History Center.