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DEVIN MARKS
In the Indiana Jones movies you could count on arrows, spears, rolling boulders, and intrigue. Indiana was always on the quest for a key to history. Something that really meant something.
Devin Marks is a seeker of a key to Tampa's history. As the Great Grandson of Col. Silas
Armistead Jones, Devin has more than just a passing interest in Col. Jones' prior activities. Locating
in the Tampa area from Kentucky on Christmas Day, 1876, Col Jones was a significant player in the development
of the port of Tampa in promoting trade with the Caribbean and Central America. He was one of the persuaders of Henry
Plant to locate the railroad to Tampa that eventually lead to the construction of the hotel that currently houses
the University of Tampa.
It was in 1893 the Col. Jones formed the Tampa Daily Times. In 1958 the Times was sold to the Tampa Tribune
and was eventually discontinued in 1982.
The key that Devin is looking for are the issues from the first twenty years of publication. A volume
had been passed from the Tribune to the University of Tampa, but was somehow lost along the way.
The details of Tampa's lifestyles, business, and development from 1893 would be very well covered in those old issues. Devin
might not be dodging spears and arrows, or avoiding rolling boulders and poisonous snakes, but he is on the search
for Tampa's history just like Indiana Jones.
Spending his time looking for those missing issues and by visiting museums, libraries, antique stores, and speaking
before groups, Devin is seeking to motivate you just enough to look in that old chest or up in the attic for copies
of the Tampa Daily Times.
What's more, in an effort to raise awareness of the missing years -- and of the Bay area's boomtown past -- Devin has organized a team of dedicated, history-loving volunteers who are launching a weeklong, history festival in April. Working in conjunction with the Hillsborough Library System, Cracker Country, the Tampa Bay History Center, the Ybor Museum, the St. Pete African American History Museum, Heritage Village and approximately 30 other history-loving organizations, CELEBRAT!ON '06 will launch in the Bay area. For more details on the exciting lineup of activites slotted for the FLORIDA HERITAGE CELEBRAT!ON, click here!
You can visit Devin's website at: http://www.reclaimingourheritage.org/
And if you happen to have a few issues of the Tampa Daily Times from 1893-1913 laying around, please let us know.
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A FAMOUS ADVERTISEMENT
Excerpted from "Reminiscences of Judge Charles E. Harrison,"
Edited by Canter Brown
Read more here.
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A Knight of a Man: Andrew J. Knight
This profile of a life and career from Tampa’s boomtown yesteryear, tells the story of a Andrew J. Knight, a founding father of the city’s first daily newspaper--The Tampa Daily Times--and an entrepreneur of note in countless ventures of import.
Read more here.
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FORT HOMER HESTERLY ARMORY - TO SAVE OR NOT ?
There have been many ideas floated around for the Fort Homer Hesterly Armory on North Howard Avenue.
Read more here.
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Other contributors:
"Something Left Behind" by Gordon Solie, Robert and Pamela Allyn
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