Port Tampa City

Port Tampa City was established in 1887 at the end of Henry Plant's railroad line, where trains stopped on a dock beside Plant's St. Elmo and Port Tampa Inn hotels, both now gone. It was the debarkation point for the Spanish-American War invasion of Cuba, and soldiers were quartered here along with Teddy Roosevelt and his staff. Tampa annexed the town on May 11, 1961; it sits just north of MacDill Air Force Base, and its Picnic Island Beach is popular for canoeing and picnics.