The Ybor City Lamp Posts
There are many stories about the Ybor City Lamp Posts. Very little is actually recorded and written down. Here is our version of the story. This was told to us by many different people. In the 1900’s there were 100s of Ybor City lamp style post across the City of Tampa. During World War II all the lamp posts were collected and melted down to make steel. This steel was used to make the 2nd ship called The USCGC Tampa. The first one was sunk by a German submarine in 1918 during World War 1. Then the 2nd ship was in use until 1947. The lamp post were all gone.
Then came urban renewal in the 1960’s. To the horror of many in Tampa – Ybor City the Urban Renewal became known as “Burn Baby Burn”. 100’s of structures were being burned down to make way for the new urban. The Tampa Historical Society went up in arms to the mayor’s office. It was agreed that the Former Ybor City Fire Hall was to become the Historical Museum. The big day came and everyone went down to City Hall where the mayor signed the building over. When the group went back to Ybor City to celebrate, the build was gone! It had been knocked down the same day! WOW WHAT A MESS!!! You can just imagine how upset the public was! This is the site of Centennial Park today in Ybor City. Later the Ferlita Bakery across the street became Ybor City Museum State Park.
The Mayor had many people very upset. About this time a federal grant came thru. It basically said that cities need to maintain a stockpile iron reserves. Hum Tampa used to have lamp posts at one time. The problem was that they were all gone. Then someone said “There is one still left in the Columbia Restaurant Court Yard dining room.” That lamp pole was used as the model. The Mayor had Historical Reproductions of the original lamp post made and placed thru out Ybor City. He was now back in the good graces with the Historical Society. Today the lamp posts are valued at $60,000+ each. Tampa still has a reserve of iron too. This is the version we remember.