In the early 1800s, Levi Coller and his father-in-law John Dixon lived on Spanish grant land in the area of St. Augustine, in territorial Florida. In 1815 there was an Indian uprising and John Dixon was killed; Levi took his family and fled to Alachua County, Florida.  Levi came to the bay area a short time later for the salt air for his health (family tradition) and to set out his stake. He selected 160 acres on the bay front extending east from the mouth of the river and returned home to gather his crops and move his family. He returned to the bay area with his family the next year (1822) and was astounded to find that during his absence the government had set aside the land he had selected for his homestead as a military reservation and had troops encamped on it. He had neglected to file notice of his intention at the land office and therefore had no claim on the land. His next selection was a tract on the east shore of the bay at the mouth of what is now known as Six Mile Creek, but which after his location there was called Collar's Creek. Coller spoke the language of the Indians and traded with them; often serving as a translator for the army during peaceful times. Levi, along with wife Nancy Dixon Coller and their five children were the first civilian settlers in the wilderness that would become Tampa at Ft. Brooke.  By 1829, Levi had farmed the area and was selling vegetables to the U.S. Army outpost at Fort Brooke and to government vessels which entered the port.  Coller had a large farm where he cultivated the first cotton planted in South Florida. He developed a large herd of cattle and hogs, and established trade with the island of Key West, using the fishing smacks which occasionally entered the bay to transport his farm products, beef and pork. He had many diversified interests and acquired lands along the west bank of the Hillsborough River to the area now known as Ballast Point. 

Read an excellent detailed account of the struggles of the Coller family with Indians, disease and even a hurricane with tidal surge, by D. B. McKay, written during the lifetime of Nancy Coller Jackson. "PIONEER WOMEN IN TAMPA LIVED DANGEROUS LIVES DURING INDIAN WAR", about three daughters of Levi Coller; Nancy Jackson, Cordelia Hoey and Jeanette Haskins.
 

Levi Coller's 1830 census shows one male and one female under 5, one male and two females age 5 to 10, two females age 10 to under 15, one female age 30 to under 30 (which was his wife) one male age 40 to under 50 (which would have been Levi himself), for a total of 9 members in his household.  Note that in 1830, the county and the river had not been named Hillsborough.  The bay area was in Alachua County, and the area was enumerated as Lochloosa Creek, Coster Ponds, New River, and Sampson River.  Click Image to enlarge, opens in new window, then zoom to enlarge.

In September of 1834, Levi & Nancy's daughter, Nancy Coller, married Robert Andrew Jackson, Jr. at the Fort Brooke garrison.  It was the first recorded wedding on Florida’s West Coast. Jackson, who was born in Philadelphia in 1802, was a son of Robert and Euphemia Parker Jackson.  Robert Jackson, Sr., also a native of Philadelphia, was a civil engineer and was employed in some important government work, among which was the construction of Fort Moultrie on Sullivan's Island in Charleston harbor, the fortification of which figured prominently in Revolutionary War history, as well as in the history of the War Between the States.

Robert Jackson, Jr. was a student of West Point and previous graduate of Rutgers College in New Jersey.  He was a compounder of medicines and the surgeon’s chief steward while stationed at Ft. Brooke, where he arrived as the fort's hospital steward in 1834. (The same year the territorial Florida legislature organized and named the county of Hillsborough).  In 1838, Levi Coller's land passed to his daughters and their husbands, Jeanette and W. T. Haskins (who returned east of the river for lack of a bridge) and Nancy and Robert Jackson.

 

	Robert & Nancy Jackson's 1860 census in Tampa shows children Mariah, John, William, Parker, Robert and Cornelia.  Robert Sr.'s occupation was "Ice house keeper."  The image has been edited so that the children (which were listed on the next page) appear along with their parents. Click Image to enlarge, opens in new window, then zoom to enlarge

Dr. Jackson

After his military duty, Robert and Nancy Jackson established their home on a commanding 160-acre tract near the locale known as Jackson’s Point, marking the junction of the Hillsborough River and Bay.  Robert later became a judge of the probate court of Hillsborough County. Disaster and tragedy pursued the Jacksons when in Sept. of 1848 a terrible hurricane and tidal surge swept away their home and all of its contents, even the money they had accumulated, but Dr. and Mrs. Jackson and their five children escaped and were given shelter by friends who had erected their homes on higher land.

Nancy Coller Jackson circa 1880s

Later they built a new and more substantial home fronting on what is now Platt St. This old home, which had been repaired and added to, stood at present-day 205 Platt Street.  Robert Jackson was highly esteemed as a physician, and long as he lived, though not engaging in active practice, was often consulted by other practitioners. He was one of the foremost citizens of antebellum Tampa and died just at the closing of the Civil War, on March 2, 1865.  Leaving Nancy with no legal claim to the land where her home was built, Nancy attempted to secure title to the land the family had been occupying and developing; much of it planted with orange trees.  She had intended to homestead all 160 acres, but through the unscrupulous dealings of men she had trusted, she had to relinquish half of her acreage. After an appeal to Washington, she finally secured her acreage. In order to secure an independent life for herself and her children (5 sons and 3 daughters), she sold a portion of her homestead to some prospectors who wanted to expand the growth and development of Tampa. One of these men was Obadiah H. Platt, from Hyde Park, Illinois. Obadiah was born around 1836 in New York; he was a grandson of Obadiah H. Platt and Elizabeth Hawley of Fairfield, Conn. and a nephew of U.S. Senator Orville H. Platt.

Read about Nancy Jackson in a narrative written by her great-grandaughter, using a year 1900 interview with Nancy Jackson as one of her sources.

	Nancy Jackson's home at 205 Platt St.  L to R: Wm. Parker, Levi Oscar, Nancy, Robert Andrew III, John Brown

THE BIRTH OF HYDE PARK IN TAMPA

In 1886 Obadiah H. Platt purchased a portion of the Robert Jackson farm acreage in anticipation of a bridge joining the west bank of the Hillsborough River to downtown Tampa.  He named this new 20-acre area Hyde Park, after his hometown in Illinois. The completion of the Lafayette Street Bridge in 1889, along with the opening of railroad baron Henry B. Plant’s luxurious Tampa Bay Hotel in 1891, brought new importance to Platt’s vacant land. Soon prominent citizens built homes in Hyde Park and the area flourished. Citrus groves covered much of the area west of the river, until building in Tampa’s first suburb prevailed. James M. Watrous, who built his home at at present-day 1307 Morrison Avenue in 1882, and William A. Morrison who established a residence at 850 Newport Avenue by 1885 were early citrus growers. Lots sold quickly in Tampa's first subdivision, and a middle-class residential community formed on the west side of the river.  

Nancy Coller Jackson died in 1907 at age 92.  By 1910 all the large citrus groves had been subdivided encompassing nearly 100 acres south of Swann Avenue between Magnolia and Orleans Avenue. The fortunes of Hyde Park have fluctuated. Once known as an upper middle class neighborhood, Hyde Park lost status after WWII as outlying suburbs became more desirable. Eventually, however, the area became one of Tampa’s most affluent districts. Historic preservation had a prominent role in this change, since it ensured the continuity of style in existing and new structures.

The Platt Street and Cass Street bridges were completed in 1926 using nearly identical specifications. The Platt Street Bridge was slightly longer to connect with Bayshore Boulevard.

Platt St. bridge construction, 1925 - Upper left is Seddon Island, to the upper right is Davis Islands
(Note lack of bridge to Davis Islands)

The Platt St. Bridge as seen from Davis Islands, circa 1930s.
On the left is Bayshore Blvd., Platt St. and the Tampa Electric power plant.

Robert and Nancy Jackson's son, Capt. William Parker Jackson (b.1847) married in 1874 to Louise Collins of Bainbridge, GA. He retired from the sea in 1887 and became a farmer. On April 29th, 1890, he homesteaded 153 acres that ran between present-day Hanna St. and Knollwood Avenues, and Nebraska Avenue west to the Hillsborough River.  The famous Jackson home in Old Seminole Heights was theirs.

The First Congregational Church relocated from downtown Tampa in 1885 and built a massive building at 2201 North Florida Avenue.  The building at 2201 Florida Avenue is the First Congregational Church, built in 1906 when the block contained only an orange grove. Organized in 1885 at the home of Mrs. Caroline Pettingill, the congregation moved from a frame church in downtown Tampa at the urging of pioneer Obadiah H. Platt, for whom the church was dedicated in 1906.

Sources:

Early Tampa area settlement        The Jackson House-Old Seminole Heights

Historic Hyde Park        The Platt Lineage       Henry B. Plant Comes to Town

The Robert Jackson Family

Alfred Reuben Swann was born at Sandy Ridge, near Dandridge, Tennessee, the son of John and Sarah (Austell) Swann. His birth took place on the family plantation on September 24, 1843.  Alfred Swann was attending Maurey Academy in Dandridge when the War Between the States broke out. He enlisted immediately and served with Wheeler’s Cavalry until May 3, 1865, rising to the rank of colonel. He participated in many of the important engagements of the conflict, including Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, Chickamauga and Atlanta. For a time he was one of Wheeler’s special couriers.

The war had almost destroyed the Swann plantation at Sandy Ridge. When Colonel Swann returned to it, he found it in dire need of rehabilitation. Numerous obstacles were in the way, for he had to contend with the infamous problems of the reconstruction period, such as carpet-baggers, bushwackers and the constant strife between those who sympathized with the North and those whose sympathies remained with the South.  As he was rehabilitating the old Swann plantation, Colonel Swann bought the Beaver Dam plantation on credit. This was one of the finest in Tennessee. He paid off his debt by raising livestock—a process which took him five years. Gradually, he extended his interests and eventually was connected with many important enterprises throughout the South, some of them in Florida. Some of these were banks, railroads and business institutions.

Colonel Swann married Sarah Frances Burnett on June 16, 1881. The wedding took place at the ancestral home of the bride’s father, the Reverend Jesse M. L. Burnett, at Del Rio, Cocke County, Tennessee.

After wintering in Tampa, he foresaw a bright future for the community. In 1905, he began living in Tampa much of the year and became a major figure in the city's residential and commercial development. Swann and Eugene Holtsinger, a fellow Tennessean, developed a large residential subdivision on Hillsborough Bay named Suburb Beautiful. Their Bayshore Boulevard development featured a seawall and a roadway between the residences and the bay, giving Tampa its beautiful scenic drive. Swann envisioned Tampa as a major American city. Realizing that Tampa required more extensive port facilities, he purchased the marshland south of Ybor City known as the Estuary. In 1910, Congress appropriated funds to develop Ybor Channel and other port projects that contributed to Tampa's commercial growth. His business, the Swann Terminal Company, played a vital role in the port's development. In addition to his involvement in Tampa, Swann owned extensive citrus groves in Florence Villa in central Florida and timber interests in other parts of the state. Leaders such as Colonel Alfred Reuben Swann helped to make Tampa what it is today, the center of a major metropolitan area.  Col. Swann died on April 9, 1926, on a visit to his plantation at Dandridge. 

James T. Swann, Sr., one of eight children of Alfred Reuben and Sarah Frances Swann, received his early education at Swannsylvania Academy in Jefferson County, Tennessee, after which he attended Carson Newman College in that state. In 1910, James Swann graduated from Harvard University with the degree of Bachelor of Arts.  He joined his family, which by then had settled in Tampa. For a time he was active in the citrus business at Florence Villa, but this was a short-lived interest. Then, affiliating himself with his father’s realty firm, he began to participate in the development of the Suburb Beautiful. It is said that he sold virtually every lot on Bayshore Boulevard himself. He and his family came to live on that beautiful thoroughfare at No. 1801.

James T. Swann, Sr. married Mary Cotter Lucas, a native of Tampa, on November 4, 1914. She established a tradition in the Swann family: she served as Queen of Gasparilla in 1914. Her daughter was Queen in 1938 and her son and his wife were King and Queen, together, in 1941.

In 1914, Mr. Swann took over the management of the Interstate Investment Company, of which his father was president and he vice president. He remained in active charge of the company until his death in May of 1953. James and Mary had children Mary Frances, the wife of Lieutenant Colonel Jackson K. Judy of the United States Army and James T. Swann, Jr.

James T. Swann, Sr. was one of the most successful and active real estate operators in Tampa and was outstanding in civic life. He became president of Interstate Grove Properties, Inc., Swann Securities Corporation and J. T. Swann and Company. In World War II, he became associate chairman of the Division of Transportation and Communications of the Florida State Defense Council and for many years served on the board of trustees of the University of Tampa.  Mr. Swann worked vigorously on behalf of public recreation. At first a vice president of the Florida Amateur State Golf Association, he was its president from 1942 and for several years after this date president emeritus. He had helped organize the association in 1926 and became vice president at that time.

One of the civic promotions in Tampa in which he engaged vigorously was that staged by Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla, of which he was an officer. He was also vice president of the Rotary Club of Tampa (1922-1923); president of the Tampa Chamber of Commerce (1928-1929); president of Palma Ceia Golf Club; a director of the South Florida Fair Association, and co-organizer and a director of the Florida Citrus Growers Clearing Rouse Association, which he served as chairman in the year 1932-1933.  For hobby he indulged in the making of motion pictures. He and his family worshipped in the First Baptist Church of Tampa.

JAMES T. SWANN, JR.

James T. Swann, Jr. was born in Tampa on September 6, 1916. A member of the cigar industry, and also active in the real estate and citrus businesses, he had made a significant contribution to the development of his native city. Distinguished in school days, he was a decorated member of the United States Army Air Forces in World War II and in one of the civic promotions of Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla, the annual pirate festival, was King of Gasparilla. His popularity was widespread. 

Upon his return home after the war, Mr. Swann became closely identified with Swann Products, Inc., a cigar factory and mail order cigar company founded by his father. When his father died in 1953, James Swann, Jr., assumed the presidency of the company and he devoted himself to this firm, as well as to his citrus and real estate interests. 

While reigning as King of Gasparilla in 1941, Mr. Swann married Ruth Binnicker, who was Queen of the festival at the same time. They had three children; Kathleen, Terrell, and James T. Swann, III. The family worshipped in the First Baptist Church of Tampa. When on January 11, 1955, a heart attack swept away the life of James T. Swann, Jr., at the age of thirty-eight, the entire city of Tampa was shocked. It had followed with approbation and eagerness the career of this young man, an illustrious member of an illustrious family, and had predicted that some day he would be one of the South’s most noted citizens and one of the unforgettable builders of Southwestern Florida.

James' widow, Ruth Binnicker Swann, would later marry Jack Eckerd of Eckerd Corporation fame.  Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater is named for her.

Photos and portions of this Swann family biography is from J.T. Swann & Co.

DAVIS BLVD., DAVIS ISLANDS

The development of Davis Islands by David Paul Davis made him nationally famous.  Read about his visionary quest, his struggles and mysterious death, here at Tampapix contained on 4 pages at D.P. Davis and his Islands.