Main Street and Howard Ave in West Tampa

Main Street and Howard Ave, West Tampa

Main Street, view east from intersection of Howard Avenue. 1911. Fishbaugh/Burgert Brothers. Courtesy, Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System

Main Street, view east from the intersection of Howard Avenue with Emiliano Salcines Sr. Park on the left and Catrina’s Tacos and Tequila Bar on the right. 2023. © Chip Weiner

While part of the Burgert collection, the photo on the left was taken by William A. Fishbaugh in 1911 before selling his business and negatives to the Burgert Brothers in 1917. It shows a bustling intersection of Main Street and Howard Ave in West Tampa.

On the left in the photo are buildings owned by Isidor Kaunitz, a Jewish merchant who got his start in Ybor City. The name on the building in the back is “Isidor Kaunitz El Sombrero Blanco”, a moniker given to him by cigar workers in Ybor City since he always wore a white hat. The building is still there but has been painted over and his name removed.

The building on the left front at 1701 N Howard was badly burned in 1918 in the great West Tampa fire that burned 102 buildings, 90 of them homes. The fire started at the former Alvarez Cigar Factory, and high winds and low water pressure allowed it to spread quickly. Twenty-two buildings on the north side of Main and twenty-four on the south side were damaged or destroyed. Total damage was estimated at $250,000. There were varying stories about the cause of the fire. Some witnesses said they saw two boys and a man running from the factory as it went up in flames. The building was rebuilt, and in 1934, Delgado’s Department Store opened. In 1941, Emiliano Salcines Sr., father of Tampa native and former Appellate Judge and Tampa historian E.J. Salcines, opened the West Tampa Department Store there and sold it in 1964. In 1967, the building was again destroyed by fire. It was demolished, and the corner is now the Emiliano Salcines Sr. Park.

The Bank of West Tampa was chartered in 1906 and constructed the building on the right of the photo with marble arch in 1907. It was not burned in the big fire in 1918, though it came close. It closed in 1933. In 1946, the Central Bank of Tampa opened on the first floor but eventually merged with Mercantile Bank and moved. The building is probably best known today as the former home of the Fourth of July Café, which closed in 2017. It now houses Catrina’s Tacos.

Behind it, east on Main St, is the Pan American Mercantile building. It has also housed several businesses over the past century. It was the second home of the Fourth of July Café before it moved next door to the bank building. It also briefly housed a small cigar manufacturer called Victory Cigar Company and, most recently, Bexley’s Soul Fried Chicken. The building is being rehabbed, and a planned 1,637-square-foot office complex is in the works, with an anticipated completion date of late 2023.

Looking north at the intersection of Howard Avenue and Main Street in West Tampa with first location of the 4th of July Cafe on the left and Delgados Department Store on the right before it became the West Tampa Department Store.. 1935. Burgert Brothers. Courtesy of the Hillsborough County Library

State Bank of West Tampa on the corner of Main Street and Howard Avenue" (1946). Robertson and Fresh. Courtesy of the University of South Florida Digital Collection

The Tampa Times, April 9, 1918 reporting the West Tampa fire