Raybro Electric Supplies, Inc., 812 West Twiggs Street,

Raybro Electric Supplies, Inc., 812 West Twiggs Street

Raybro Electric Supplies, Inc., 812 West Twiggs Street, employees posed in front of showroom. 1934. Burgert Brothers. Courtesy, Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System

George E. Edgecomb Courthouse Hillsborough County Courthouse, 812 West Twiggs Street, 2021.© Chip Weiner

In 1927, Troy A. Brown and Lee Rayley (Ray from Rayley and Bro from Brown) founded the Raybro Electric Company on Twiggs Street with four employees. Starting with one-third of the building, they would eventually grow to take over the entire structure after remodeling it in 1934. The business continued to expand statewide, with branches in Jacksonville and Miami. By 1954, the Tampa facility had outgrown this building and moved to Ellamae Ave (now Channelside).

By the early 1960s, the State government owned the building for the Office of Motor Vehicles and the Florida State Employment Office. In 1976, the state sold it to Hillsborough County, which renovated it and named it the George E. Edgecomb Building after the county judge died. That building was leveled, and the new $43-million George E. Edgecomb Courthouse was built in 2000.

From Burgert Brothers: Look Again, Vol. 1