Photographs Written Historical and Descriptive Data
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.. MacOill Air Force Base HABS No. Fl-384 Bounded by the City of Tampa to the north, Tampa Bay to the south, Old Tampa Bay to the west, and Hillsborough Bay to the east Tampa Hillsborough County Florida PHOTOGRAPHS WRITTEN HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE DATA Historic American Buildings Survey National Park Service Southeast Regional Department of the Interior Atlanta, Georgia 30303 HISTORIC AMERICAN BUILDINGS SURVEY MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE HABS No. Fl-384 location: The Base's northern boundary is the City of Tampa, which is separated by a security fence with check points on Bayshore Drive, MacDill Avenue and Dale Mabry (Highway 41). The Base is surrounded on the remaining three sides by water: Hillsborough Bay on the east side, Tampa Bay to the south, and Old Tampa Bay on the west side. Downtown Tampa is ten miles northeast of the north main (Dale Mabry) gate of the Base. Tampa, Hi1lsborough County, Florida U.S.G.S. Port Tampa & Gibsonton, Florida 7.5' Quadrangles Universal Transverse Mercator Coordinates on Gibsonton Quadrangle: 17-353560-3081590 Present Owner: Department of the Air Force Present Occupants: MacDill Air Force Base 6th Air Base Wing Present Use: Military--Air Force Significance: The period of significance of MacDill Air Force Base is 1939 to 1945. The Base, along with seven other installations, was planned through the National Defense Act of 1935 which was sponsored by Senator J. Mark Wilcox of West Palm Beach, Florida. At this time, the world democracies were b~1ng threatened by the military act ions of Germany, Japan, and the Soviet Union. In 1939, the land was acquired and the first contingents of the Army Corps of Engineers and Works Projects Administration workers began clearing the site. The initial mission of MacDil l was to defend the Caribbean Region. But when the United States entered the Second World War, the Base's primary mission became one of training replacement units and personnel for combat in both the European and Pacific theaters of operation. The Base is currently home of the Central Command which oversees military operations in the Persian Gulf. MacDill also served as the logistical point of command during Operation Desert Shield/Storm. Part of MacDill Air Force is scheduled to close: the flight operations and equipment portion of the Base--which includes the hangars, runway, and igloos--will be transferred to the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration. The non e losure area, which contains the admin i st rat ion buildings and barracks, is scheduled to remain in operation. MacDill Air Force Base HABS No. FL-384 (page 2) PART I. PHYSICAL SETTING OF MACPILL AIR FQRCE BASE MacDill Air Force Base encompasses over 5,700 acres, located approximately ten miles southwest of downtown Tampa, Florida. Only a small portion of the land contains buildings--the majority of the acreage is devoted to flight operations structures, such as runways, aprons, and ammunition storage. The base is bounded on three sides by water: Hillsborough Bay on the east, Tampa Bay on the south, and Old Tampa Bay on the west. The primary aircraft runway starts in the upper northeast corner and runs diagonally to the southwest corner of the base. The runway nearly cuts the base into two sections. Storage igloos, the Port of Tampa Dock facilities, and undeveloped land are located on the west side of the runway. The administrative and residential areas, as well as the undeveloped wetlands, occupy the east side. The survey area, which encompasses the administrative and residential area located on the east central side bound by Hillsborough Bay, only occupies a small portion of the Base. The survey area is located between Bayshore Drive on the east side and Apron Access Road on the west side. The north end of the survey area starts at the North Boundary Road and terminates at the southern side of Hangar Loop Drive. Within this survey area, most of the original permanent administrative and support facilities are still standing. However, except for the tile and stucco Field Officers Quarters {Staff Loop Area) and the Non-Comissioned Officers Housing, the original residential structures were temporary wood barracks and have been demolished. The current predominant architectural style is an adaptation of the Mediterranean Reviva 1 style that evolved into a Military Vernacular style. Military Vernacular consists of a poured-in-place concrete or concrete block type. Another "style" consists of wood frame structures originally designated as "temporary." This was originally the most prevalent building type on the Base but these structures have been, and continue to be, removed and replaced with more permanent .construction. There are also eleven buildings which exhibit the accepted academic interpretation of the Mediterranean Revival style and exhibit the following characteristics: low pitched roofs with little eave overhangs with regularly laid clay tile roofs, arched openings, stucco wall covering, and an asymetrical facade. PART II. HISTQRIC BACKGBOUNQ INFQRMAJION AND CONTEXT DEYELQPMENJ Tampa, a major United States seaport and important comercial and industrial center of the state of Florida, lies on the northeast shore of Tampa Bay. The metropolitan area of Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Clearwater have a combined population of 2,067,959. Tampa, the county seat of Hillsborough County, covers approximately 170 square miles (440 square kilometers). Tampa's downtown area lies at the mouth of the Hillsborough River, near the point where the river empties into the Hillsborough Bay. Burial mounds found along Florida's western coast show that Indians lived in the region as long as 10,000 years ago. Approximately 10,000 Indians, who belonged to at least six main tribes, lived in the Florida region when the first Europeans arrived. Some of these tribes include the Calusa, Tequesta, and Timucuan who MacDill Air Force Base HABS No. FL-384 (page 3) were located in the southern and western half of the state, with the Calusa and Timucuan near the present site of Tampa. 1 In 1513, the Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon claimed this region for Spain and named it Florida, perhaps in honor of Pascua Florida, the Spanish term for the Easter season. In 1521, he returned to Florida to start a colony. More Spanish arrived in 1528 with an expedition of 400 men led by Panfilo de Naraez, who was traveling northward in search of gold. In 1589, Hernando de Soto, another Spaniard, landed an expedition in the area now known as Tampa Bay. In 1564, a group of French Protestants known as Huguenots established a colony and built Fort Caroline on the St. Johns River, near what is now Jacksonville. Spain felt that the French were invading their territory and sent an armed force to meet the colonists in 1565. The ensuing massacre effectively ended French attempts to settle eastern Florida. Meanwhile, the British were busy establishing colonies in northern Florida. When war broke out in mid-1700's between British and French colonists, Spain sided with France {despite the massacre of the Huguenots) and in their ensuing defeat, Spain ceded Florida to Britain in exchange for Cuba. Spain again regained control of Florida in 1783 after the British defeat in the Revolutionary War. During the War of 1812 (1812-1815) Spain allowed the British to use Pensacola as a naval base against the United States. At the time, Florida was the only part of southeastern North America that did not belong to America. After the British defeat in New Orleans, Andrew Jackson captured Pensacola, defeated the Seminole Indians, and Spain was forced to turn Florida over to the United States in 1819. In 1823, Robert J. Hackley, a pioneer from New York City, became the first United States citizen to sett le in the area w~ ich is now Tampa, where he bu 1lt a plantation. In 1824, the United States government moved many Seminole Indians to a reservation near the Tampa Bay. Once the Indians, who had been fighting to keep their hunting grounds in northern Florida, were defeated, the Army built Fort Brooke on Tampa Bay to supervise the Seminole. White settlers soon established a village near the fort. The settlers named the village Tampa for the bay, which in turn was named for an Indian village that once stood in the area. 2 The village soon incorporated into a city in 1855 and by 1860 had a population of 885 people. Union troops occupied Tampa during the Civil War from 1861 to 1865. Tampa's first benevolent philanthropist was Henry B. Plant from Atlanta, Georgia. Plant, an industrialist, spent millions of dollars between 1880 to 1890 to help develop the city. He built a railroad that linked Tampa with the northern states and helped establish the city's tourist industry. This railroad later became a deciding factor in locating MacDill Air Force Base in the Tampa area. In 1886, Florida tobacco processor Vicente Martinez Ybor founded a cigar industry in what is now Vbor City. The city served as a military base during the Spanish-American War in 1898 and as a ship building center during the First World War. MacDill Air Force Base HABS No. FL-384 (page 4) Real estate speculation in Florida attracted thousands of people to Tampa during the 1920's, which swelled the city population to over 101,000. The ship building industry thrived as well until the mid-1940's. At the start of World War II, the Army operated three air bases: Drew Field, Henderson Field, and MacDill Field. MacOill Air Force Base was one of seven bases authorized by the Wilcox National Defense Act and was part of a system of bases to defend the vulnerable Caribbean during World War II.