page_title: History of Tampa, Florida
section_title: Fort Brooke
hierarchical_section_title: History of Tampa, Florida / Fort Brooke and the Seminole Wars / Fort Brooke
caption_attribution_description: English: Downloaded from http://memory.loc.gov/ TITLE: Tampa Bay on the Gulf of Mexico CALL NUMBER: PGA - Gray &amp; James--Tampa Bay on the Gulf of Mexico (A size) [P&amp;P] REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-USZC4-4422 (color film copy transparency) LC-USZ62-16519 (b&amp;w film copy neg.) RIGHTS INFORMATION: No known restrictions on publication. SUMMARY: View of barracks and tents at Fort Brooke during the Seminole War in Florida in 1835. MEDIUM: 1 print&#160;: lithograph, hand-colored. CREATED/PUBLISHED: [Charleston, S.C.&#160;: T.F. Gray and James, 1837] CREATOR: Gray &amp; James. NOTES: No. 5 in set of 8 "Views of Florida." The State Library and Archives of Florida cites as "Lithographs of events in the Semonole War in Florida in 1835. Issued by T.F. Gray and James of Charleston, S.C., in 1837."
context_page_description: The modern history of Tampa, Florida, can be traced to the founding of Fort Brooke at the mouth of the Hillsborough River in today's downtown in 1824, soon after the United States had taken possession of Florida from Spain. The outpost brought a small population of civilians to the area, and the town of Tampa was first incorporated in 1855.
  Growth came slowly as poor transportation links, conflicts with the Seminole tribe, and repeated outbreaks of yellow fever made development difficult. The Civil War and Reconstruction caused the city government to disincorporate for over a decade.
  In the 1880s the construction of the first railroad links laid by Henry B. Plant brought the development of thriving cigar and phosphate industries. The founding of the cigar-centered neighborhood of Ybor City in 1885 brought an influx of Cubans, Spaniards, Italians, and other immigrants. Tampa's population jumped from less than 800 residents in 1880 to over 15,000 in 1900, making it one of the largest cities in Florida.
  By the 20th century Tampa emerged as a modern financial, trade, and commercial hub.
context_section_description: In 1823, the United States imposed upon the leaders of the Seminoles to sign the Treaty of Moultrie Creek, which created a large Indian reservation in the interior of peninsular Florida. The U.S. government then built a series of forts and trading posts throughout the territory to enforce the provisions of the treaty.
  
  As part of this effort, Fort Brooke was established on January 10, 1824 by Colonels George Mercer Brooke and James Gadsden at the mouth of the Hillsborough River on Tampa Bay, just about where today's Tampa Convention Center sits downtown. The site was marked by a huge hickory tree set atop an ancient Indian mound most likely built by the Tocobaga centuries before.
  Colonel Brooke, the outpost's first commander, directed his troops to clear the area for the construction of a wooden fort and support buildings, but ordered that several ancient live oak trees inside the encampment be spared to provide shade and cheer.  On January 22, 1824, the post was officially named Fort Brooke. John Mercer Brooke was born there. The first post office was established in 1831.
caption: Barracks and tents at Fort Brooke in Tampa Bay, c. 1835
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