Arts / Culture

A historian will examine Florida's 'Lost Tourist Attractions,' including some Tampa-area landmarks

WUSF | By Susan Giles Wantuck

Published April 8, 2025 at 5:10 AM EDT

A vintage black-and-white photo shows a crowd of spectators watching swimmers go down a watr slide — A crowd of spectators watches swimmers go down the slide at the Municipal Pool in Sulphur Springs Park in Tampa in January 1920.

University of Central Florida Senior History Lecturer Jim Clark will share stories about some of the early and now forgotten tourist draws at the Spring Hill Branch Library.

Florida has a long history of tourist attractions that stretch back before the highways were put in.

A man in a dark coat and white shirt wears tortoiseshell glasses — James C. Clark

Jim Clark, a senior lecturer in history at the University of Central Florida, said if the Jamestown colonists had only known, they could have had a better time of things in the new country.

“If they had sailed a few 100 miles south, they could have checked into a hotel in St. Augustine and ordered room service. We don't realize Florida was first in everything,” he said.

Clark will be talking about Florida's lost attractions at Spring Hill Branch Library on April 9 at 1p.m.

Some of them started with steamboat tourism following the U.S. Civil War.

That includes Silver Springs in Ocala, which was founded in the late 19^th century.

But there was a stretch of time when it was segregated, with Silver Springs for the white visitors and Paradise Park for African American visitors.

1955 Miss Paradise Park pageant finalists with their prizes.

Clark said that Tampa’s Sulphur Springs was also a major tourist attraction.

“It had a big hotel there and all kinds of things going on, and it was, again, probably in the top 20 attractions in Florida, at one point. We don't realize how many of these attractions there were. And of course, the most famous would be the guinea pig colony in St. Petersburg, which was in existence in the 1940s,” he said.

Clark said Henry B. Plant’s Tampa Bay Hotel with its iconic minarets was actually part of a chain of hotels. It’s the only one still standing, but it is now part of the University of Tampa.

He will also talk about Pasco County’s Dupree Gardens in his presentation. It was a beauty spot that gave way to houses long ago and is where you'll now find Land O’Lakes.

A woman sits on the grass surrounded by beds of beautiful flowers. — Pasco County once had gardens that were known by people from far away for their beautiful flowers.

Clark is the author of several books about Florida, including "Lost Attractions of Florida.” The book features Ocala’s Six-Gun Territory which had actors in cowboy getup with six-shooters in their holsters. There was a faceoff at high noon every day on the dusty main drag.