Wallace S Building, northwest corner of Twiggs and Tampa streets
[Wallace building] : Tampa, Fla. 1944. Burgert Brothers Courtesy, Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library
GTE Financial Building, 601 N Ashley Street, 2021. © Chip Weiner
Newspapers were the internet of the 20th century. Most everyone looked to them for news, entertainment, and information. Wallace F. Stovall got in early, starting his Tampa Tribune in 1895 and growing his paper into one of the largest publications in Florida by the 1920s. The paper was typically printed in a building he owned. In 1924, he opened this twelve-story 72,200 Sq. Ft. office “skyscraper” Tribune Building at the corner of Twiggs and Tampa Streets with an adjacent four-story structure in front of the towers to house the Tribune operations. In an odd move in 1925, Stovall gambled when he sold a $5,000 30-day option to Mrs. Lulette Gunby to sell the Tribune for $ 1.2 million, thinking she could never raise that much money in 30 days and he would be $5,000 richer. He was wrong. He offered the syndicate of buyers $200,000 to call the deal off, but they refused. Stovall lost the paper.