Macfarlane Park - West Tampa - Page 1
Located between MacDill and Lincoln Avenues,
bordered by Spruce Street on the north.
The main entrance on MacDill Avenue is marked by this unmistakable archway. The land for the park was donated by Hugh Macfarlane in 1908.
Those of us who grew up in West Tampa in the area of this park,
remember it as a place for our childhood birthday parties and Easter egg hunts.
Click to read about
Hugh Macfarlane
These signs are posted at the north west corner of the park at Lincoln Ave. and Spruce Street
George Guida Memorial Drive is the main entrance
to the park. It leads from the archway on MacDill Ave.
to the pavilion on the "big hill."
Click to read about
George Guida
"Mr. West Tampa"
Remember the "big hill?" As kids, it was a mountain to us.
Hugh C. Macfarlane was born in Grossmylouf, Scotland, in 1851. He came to this country with his parents as a teenager. By the time he moved to Tampa in 1884, he was an experienced lawyer with a law degree from Boston University. Three years later he was appointed city attorney, and in 1893 state attorney for the 6th Judicial Circuit.
Appointments to the Board of Public Works and Board of Port Commissioners furthered his local prominence. In 1892, inspired by the actions of Vicente Martinez Ybor six years earlier, Macfarlane offered free land and buildings to cigar manufacturers a few miles northwest of Tampa proper.
His initiative paid off. In 1895 West Tampa incorporated as its own city and came to rival Ybor City in cigar production. In 1925, West Tampa was annexed into greater Tampa. Macfarlane worked for and formed several law firms until his death in 1935 at age 83. -- By MICHAEL CANNING, Times Staff Writer Source: Tampa Bay History Center