About Us

• Beginning with a look at Florida's first peoples, who inhabited the peninsula some 10,000 years ago, and the arrival of European explorers in the 1500s, to Tampa Bays modern role as a port city, the industrial capital of west central Florida and a draw for tourists and visitors the world over, the History Center tells the story of Tampa Bays and Florida's history, heritage and culture. The History Center is also home to the Touchton Map Library/Florida Center for Cartographic Education. The only cartographic research center of its kind in the state, the TML/FCCE houses one of the most comprehensive collections of Florida cartography in the world, with holdings spanning five centuries.