HAMPTON TERRACE - LAKEWOOD MANOR CELEBRATES 100 YEARS

BY BILL TRUETT

Our Historic Neighborhood has a lot to celebrate this year. Over the past 30 years, the neighborhood's rebirth has been astonishing. Many of you may not be aware that our beginnings grew out from the same era that includes other neighborhoods such as Hyde Park and Suburb Beautiful.. A full page 1913 advertisement in the Tampa Tribune led with -"Hampton Terrace" is to the Northside What "Suburb Beautiful" is to Bayshore (Source: Newspapers.com). It would take another 10 years before our neighborhood would take off because of World War I and a recession that soon followed.

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So, let us take a few steps back in time to discover how Hampton Terrace came to be.

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The first lots and homes were built along E. Powhatan and E. Comanche in the early 1920s. The oldest homes are on E. Powhatan built in 1920 and 13 homes were built on E. Comanche in 1923. It was not until Fidelity sold a large portion of Hampton Terrace in 1923 to Lillian Probasco and W. J. Smith of Polk County that our neighborhood began to emerge (Source: National Register of Historic Places).

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They renamed the area Lakewood Manor and the adjacent areas to Manor Heights. Lillian and her husband, Robert, created Probasco Realty Company with an office found at the entrance to the lake on Nebraska Ave. Robert was the Chairperson of the Nebraska Ave. Improvement Association. Their mission - to widen and pave Nebraska Ave. (Source: FindaGrave.com).

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In 1924, major infrastructure projects including roads, water, gas, lights, telephones, and septic services were completed. They began work on the “Only natural spring-fed lake" within the Tampa City Limits. They renamed the natural spring-fed lake from Lake Hampton to Lake Roberta. Hampton Drive, the road that encircled the lake, was changed to Roberta Circle, both aptly named after their two-year-old daughter Roberta (Source: Tampa Tribune).

 

In 1925, approximately one hundred homes would be built in Lakewood Manor. The homes ranged in cost from $5,000 to $12,000. You could buy a lot between $1,700 and $2,500. Now, home values are pushing closer to $700,000.

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Lakewood Manor became a dominant neighborhood because of its residents in the late 1920s and well into the early 1960s. A chamber, the garden club and their ties with other prestige groups in Tampa created the neighborhood brand. Our neighborhood was an important segment of Tampa.

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So when did we become known as Hampton Terrace?

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While we have always been as a collective, Hampton Terrace, there were at least 5 different subdivisions within the boundary. Lakewood Manor was at least 70% of it. It is suspected that Lakewood Manor was the most used to due to the prestige of the name. When 1-275 was built, it ripped the fabric of the neighborhoods in Seminole Heights. You didn't hear a lot about Lakewood Manor after the 70s.

As the rebirth began in 1980s and 90s, Hampton Terrace was more used and became more of how the City of Tampa recognized the area.

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To find out more about our neighborhood, the John F Germany Public Library in downtown Tampa is a reliable source. Newspapers.com supplies access to newspaper editions that go back to the early 1900's. If you would like to find out more, contact me at bill.truettatrue2media.com and i'll provide you with the basics to do research on your home.​