page_title: History of Tampa, Florida
section_title: Tony Jannus
hierarchical_section_title: History of Tampa, Florida / 20th century / Aviation / Tony Jannus
caption_attribution_description: English: A Benoist XIV flying boat on Tampa Bay begins its takeoff run for the first flight by a scheduled airline in history, flying for the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line, which operates between St. Petersburg and Tampa, Florida.
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: Just ten years after the Wright Brothers first took flight in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. On January 1, 1914, pioneering aviator Tony Jannus captained the inaugural flight of the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line, the world's first commercial passenger airline. The airline flew scheduled flights from downtown St. Petersburg, Florida, across the bay to just south of where Tampa International Airport sits today, carrying just the pilot and a single passenger in a flying boat biplane.
  The airline's historic significance is officially recognized by the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, and its pilot is memorialized annually by the awarding of the Tony Jannus Award to individuals of outstanding achievement in scheduled commercial aviation. A permanent exhibit honoring the award recipients is maintained at Tampa International Airport, which also hosts a 12.5 feet (3.8 m) painted mural from the 1930s titled, History's First Scheduled Airline Passenger Arrives in Tampa, depicting the events of New Year's Day, 1914.
caption: Jannus takes off.
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