Tampa Electric Company was formed in 1897 by a group of investors from Boston to manage and maintain the fledgling electric trolley car system in the newly chartered city of Tampa. They purchased Consumers Electric Power and Light Co that year after the company had money trouble following a dynamite attack on their dam on the Hillsborough River. When Tampa Electric started, they had 21 ½ miles of trolly track. In the 1920s, the company was run by Peter O. Knight, a name familiar to many. This building housed their offices.

In the 1930s, Tampa Electric Leisure House was here, a modern kitchen mock-up with new electric appliances that was open to women’s clubs for parties and free cooking classes. It was state-of-the-art marketing. Mixing community service of sponsoring cooking classes while demonstrating the usefulness of electric appliances was keen. In the 1940s, the space was used for an event space and meeting rooms. In 1957, the company opened its new $1.25-million headquarters at Dale Mabry and Grand Central (now Kennedy Blvd.) and opened a new leisure house there.  The property is now a surface parking lot.

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