What's in a Name: Howard Frankland Bridge and Lowry Park
The Brief
Howard Frankland was a prominent businessman who proposed building the bridge to connect Tampa to Pinellas County.
Frankland paved the way as construction began in June 1957 and the bridge was completed in April 1960, becoming the fourth and final span across Tampa Bay.
TAMPA, Fla. - When it comes to having a road named after you, sometimes it helps if you just own the right plot of land – such was the case with Howard Frankland in the 1950s.
"When I-4, which is now the path of I-275, was cutting across west Tampa and was going to go across Tampa Bay, they needed to acquire land, and then they needed to build a bridge," says Tampa Bay History Center historian Rodney Kite-Powell.
The backstory
Howard Frankland owned the property on the Tampa side of the proposed bridge. He was also a prominent businessman in town, and owned Pioneer Tires.
"It just made a lot of logic, given his stature in the community and his ownership of the property adjacent to the bridge, that it would be called the Howard Frankland Bridge," says Kite-Powell.
Construction began in June 1957 and the bridge was completed in April 1960, becoming the fourth and final span across Tampa Bay.
In some cases, when it comes to naming landmarks, it helps to be the "man with the plan", like Dr. Sumter de Leon Lowry.
His main job was owner of an insurance company. But he was also a Tampa City commissioner for three consecutive terms in the 1920s.
READ: What's in a name: Gandy Bridge
Lowry saw a big opportunity on a large parcel of land west of the Hillsborough River, just opposite of Sulphur Springs. Originally slated to be a cemetery, the land sat vacant for years.
"The city wanted to have a larger park and a zoo. And since it was Lowry who initiated the idea of having the park space, they went ahead and named it for him," says Kite-Powell.
In the late 1920s, Lowry Park got its first zoo and, during the Great Depression, it was home to a work camp. The attraction "Fairyland" opened in the park in 1957.
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The Source
Information for this story was gathered by FOX 13's Corey Beckman.
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