West Tampa Free Public Library
The West Tampa Free Public Library, more recently the West Tampa Branch Library, is a historic building in the West Tampa National Historic District in Tampa, Florida. It was the first public library in Hillsborough County, Florida, when it opened on Main and Howard Avenue in 1914. The library is a historic link between the establishment of the City of West Tampa, the Cigar industry, and Latin and African-American communities. West Tampa was incorporated on May 18, 1895, with its population being nearly 3,000 and is considered one of Tampa's earliest suburban towns. In the period from 1900 to 1920, West Tampa saw enormous growth when its cigar factories were flourishing and commercial structures were being erected rapidly. It was Hillsborough County's only free public library until 1917. Construction of the Neoclassical revivalist style brick building was funded with a $17,500 grant from Andrew Carnegie. Residents voted in a special election to accept the donation and a yearly tax to pay for the library's operating costs. The vote was 352 to 1. Land for the library was donated by cigar factory owner Angel Cuesta. As a result of the high number of cigar factories in the area, the library had a Spanish-language reading section that cigar factory workers used frequently. English, Spanish, and Italian were spoken in the library because of West Tampa's ethnic diversity at that time. It is one of eleven Carnegie libraries built in Florida. The structure has been listed on the National Register Listing since 1983 and as a Local Historic Designation since 1988.
The library is now a branch of the Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System. Of the two Carnegie Libraries that originally opened in the Tampa area, the West Tampa Branch Library is the only one that is still open to the public. The library celebrated its centennial in January 2014.