McCaskill's Store, 1101 Franklin Street
McCaskill's Store at 1101 Franklin [Street]. 1949. Burgert Brothers. Courtesy, Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System
1101 Franklin Street. 2021 © Chip Weiner
Starting in 1926, the ground floor of this corner was built for retail clothing sales. That year, Roger’s Shoe Store opened here at 1100 N Franklin St, with the Victory Department Store next door at 1104. They were part of what developed as the Upper Franklin shopping district. In 1927, Gasque Loan and Pawn took the Victory spot, and Roger’s lasted until 1929. In 1931 Franklin Men’s Shop opened its doors and remained there until 1945, when McCaskill Clothing Company moved in. The second floor was a 22-room hotel that opened around 1927 as Hotel Chicamauga. In the early 1930s, it was renamed Hotel Albany and ran until the early 1960s. By then, the area had significantly declined, and the hotel had become seedier.
The building was vacated and sat empty for decades. While an arsonist burned the structure in 1983, it was still host to a haunted house, 98 Rock’s Nightmare, in 1994. In 2006, code enforcement ordered the building and the one adjacent to it to be demolished. In early 2007, a suspicious fire heavily damaged the condemned structures and demolished them. The lot, adjacent to Herman Massey Park, was vacant for years until construction began for Spring Hill Suites in 2022.
© Chip Weiner. All rights reserved
From Burgert Brothers: Look Again, Vol. 1
Spring Hill Suites 2024. © Chip Weiner