West Tampa
 
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West Tampa is one of the oldest districts within the city limits of Tampa, and is located just west of downtown Tampa. 

West Tampa was founded in 1892 by Scottish immigrant and successful attorney Hugh MacFarlane, who founded the town with the intention of luring some of the cigar factories and cigar workers of Ybor City a few miles west to his new community.  Initially, West Tampa's growth was stunted by transportation problems. The first cigar factory built in the area was forced to close because workers refused to ride a ferry across the Hillsborough River to the "wilds" of West Tampa, after MacFarlane built a bridge and then a streetcar line, his development experienced a period of tremendous growth. Many of these new residents had not come over from Ybor City, most were Cuban immigrants who settled in West Tampa soon after arriving in the United States. Accordingly, the community was almost exclusivity Cuban during the first several years of its existence. A gradual influx of Italians and Spaniards (mainly coming from Ybor City) made the cultural mix of West Tampa similar to that of Ybor City over time.

The historical boundaries of West Tampa are the Hillsborough River and Rome Avenue to the east, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd  to the north, Kennedy Blvd. to the south, and Dale Mabry Highway to the west.
 
The West Tampa Historic District encompasses much of this area, and Interstate 275, built in the 1960s, runs through the approximate center of the neighborhood. The land area of the district is about 10 square miles.





(Information provided by Wikipedia.  www.wikipedia.org)