The Lane Brothers operated a dairy on W. Buffalo Ave. (now Dr. Martin Luther King Blvd.) starting in the early 1900s. This dairy and ice cream factory on N. Florida Ave., named Lane Brothers Enterprise Dairy, opened in 1925 with close to 6000 attending the opening. Dairy Maid ice cream and cake were served while an orchestra played. During that era, “the milkman” delivered products to residents’ homes on a daily basis. Lane Brothers advertised pasteurized products, a process not fully embraced by the industry or consumers in the 1920s, as the safest milk obtainable. Col. Julian B Lane, a future mayor of Tampa, was a principal here and President of the Tampa Bay Milk Producers.

The lot is now vacant except for the former concrete floor that once supported the machinery manufacturing five-cent ice cream cones, a staple for residents of Tampa for years.

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