1930 Chamber of Commerce Promotioanl Map of Tampa, Florida

Land Booms: Vacation Capital of South Florida.

This is a c. 1930 Tampa Chamber of Commerce pictorial promotional map designed to attract tourists and migrants to the wider Tampa Bay region. It was issued near the end of the Florida Land Boom of the 1920s and maintains the ambition and unbound optimism that had driven breakneck development in Florida in the preceding years.

A Closer Look

The map covers the greater Tampa Bay region and indeed all of central Florida, over which are laid photographs and illustrations relating to local industry, history, and recreational activities. Promotional text is used to advertise cities throughout the region, including New Port Richey, 'the winter home of many national celebrities,' which indeed it was in the process of becoming until the end of the Florida Land Boom and the onset of the Great Depression. Cities as far away as Palm Beach and Orlando are promoted with the overall impression of Florida as a bountiful land of opportunity for farmers and a land of unlimited sunshine and relaxation for travelers. An inset map at the top displays a more conventional map of the same portion of Florida with concentric circles up to 100 miles from Tampa. Below the title is an illustration of downtown Tampa, while interspersed are drawings of baseball players, beachgoers, workers in a cigar factory, Seminole Indians, pirates, and a flamenco dancer.

The verso includes a map of Florida with a large portion of the state shaded, representing the 'Tampa Trade Territory,' to which shipping rates from Tampa are lower (so claims the Chamber) than other distributing centers in Florida. A subsequent 12 points explain why this is the case, including the city's extensive rail and steamer connections. Additional promotional text and illustrations continue the general tone of the map and pamphlet, praising the city and wider region for its culture ('a sparkling touch of old Spain'), economic benefits, and role as a gateway to Cuba, the wider Caribbean, and beyond.

Florida Land Boom(s)

In the second half of the 19th and throughout the early 20th century, Florida experienced a series of land booms and crashes. The initial land boom established Florida as a center for the citrus industry in the 1880s - 1890s, and its collapse allowed for the easy acquisition of large tracts of land at cut-rate prices. Industrialist and founder of Standard Oil, Henry Flagler (1830 - 1913) seized the opportunity to build his Florida East Coast Railway and extend it to the region that would develop into Miami and other communities on the state's southeastern coast. Henry B. Plant's eponymous system of railroads and steamships accomplished similar results in the Tampa Bay region.

Flagler, Plant, and other Florida boosters successfully promoted the state as a paradisical escape from the grimy cities and cold weather of lands further north. Land prices shot up at an astronomical rate, and developers carved entirely new cities out of wetlands in mere months. In addition to Flagler's railway, the arrival of the highway system in the 1920s made the region more easily accessible. But speculation in land prices in Florida had reached irrational heights, and the damage from two hurricanes, followed by the financial crash of 1929, led to a collapse in the real estate market, ruining many investors in the process.

Publication History and Census

This map was prepared by the Tampa Chamber of Commerce. It is undated, but from details such as the style of illustrations, the automobiles present in photographs, and the rail network present, it can be dated to c. 1930. This date is confirmed by the state's population statistic given on the verso (1,468,211), the results of the 1930 U.S. Census. This work should be distinguished from another by the Tampa Chamber of Commerce (OCLC 1224230976) with a similar title but significantly different content. The present map is held by the University of South Florida and the Touchton Map Library, which holds several examples.

Condition

Good. Wear along original fold lines. Slight loss at a fold intersection.

References

OCLC 85894432. Touchton Map Library Accession Number: 2001.162.001 et al.