In 1929, the city purchased the former Clara Frye infirmary at 1615 Lamar Street and renamed the facility the Tampa Negro Hospital. In this photograph, Mayor D.B. McKay is seen with the new hospital superintendent Dr. J.A. White on the front porch at the dedication on August 14, 1930. Frye, a nurse, originally started seeing African American patients in her home. Tampa Municipal Hospital, now Tampa General, did not admit black patients. Segregation at the time is even apparent in this photo, with white people on one side of the porch. After her retirement, the city rededicated the facility, renaming it the Clara Frye Memorial Hospital.

In 1942, the building was the home of the Tampa Urban League community center. This area of town was known as The Scrub and was the most densely populated Black neighborhood in Tampa. The 1940s was the heart of the Jim Crow era when segregation reigned and African Americans were marginalized. In the 1950s, as segregation lost its grip and residents moved away for better living conditions, the entire area was razed in the name of urban renewal. The 1960s brought the construction of the interstate through Tampa, sealing the fate of this plot of land. The back wall of the GTE Financial Credit Union Headquarters is now where the hospital once stood.

© 2023. Chip Weiner. oldtampaphotos.com