|
|
|
|
|
| |
 |
Hillsborough
County, which takes its name from the British Colonial Secretary
of 1772, was first mapped and explored by the Spanish in the early
16th century. Between 1559 and 1819, the area now called Florida
was under the rule of four nations: Spain, France, Great Britain
and, finally, the United States The United States purchased Florida
from Spain in 1821 for $5 million.
|
| In 1845, it was granted
statehood. And, on Jan. 25, 1834, the U.S. Legislative Council for
the Territory of Florida approved an act organizing Hillsborough
as Florida's 19th county. At that time, Hillsborough County was
a sprawling area that included what is now Pinellas, Polk, Manatee,
Sarasota, Charlotte, DeSoto, Hardee and Highlands counties, most
of Glades and a third of Lee. But despite that size, Hillsborough's
population only numbered 836, not counting soldiers or Native Americans,
according to S.P. Sparkman, the census taker at that time. |
 |
| When the first Commissioners
met in 1846, the general topics were taxes, transportation, a new
court house and jail, and downtown development. The county tax for
1846 was fixed at 50 percent of the amount assessed by the state,
and that assessment raised $148.69 that year. Pay for Commissioners
was set at $2 per day while in session.
|
 |
|
| |
| Commissioners
took the first steps in transportation planning by granting permission
to a man by the name of E.T. Mobley to build a toll bridge over the Hillsborough
River at or near Ft. Foster. Commissioners also allowed another entrepreneur,
Thomas Piper, "the privilege of establishing a ferry across Hillsborough
River at Tampa." Piper was given a four-year license and required
to pay $5 per year for the last three years. Various roads also were authorized,
and even as early as 1846 there were road districts and road supervisors
whose duty it was to keep the roads in passable condition.
|
| |
 |
However "establishing
a road" often meant merely blazing trees to indicate the shortest
and best route between two settlements. In 1846, Commissioners also
approved plans for a new court house, since the original building a
small log cabin was burned by Indians during the Second Seminole War.
The project was turned over to Capt. James McKay in 1847, and he completed
a two-story house, 20 feet by 45 feet, at a cost of $1,358.
|
|
| |
|
Commissioners later paid McKay
an extra $10 for additional work. A third structure was erected in 1855
and was used until 1891, when an ornate, red brick courthouse with a
silver dome was built, occupying a square block in downtown Tampa. The
current courthouse was built in 1952, and a new county government administration
building, called County Center, opened in 1994. The County Center was renamed the
Frederick B. Karl County Center in 2000, in honor of the former County Administrator
who was instrumental in the purchase of the building.
The history of county government
dating back to 1846 can be researched through the official minutes of
the meetings of the Board of County Commissioners.
|
|
|
