Port Tampa City Library

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Port Tampa City Library is a neighborhood library in the Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System, located at 4902 W. Commerce St., Tampa, Florida. It is housed in a Neoclassical building that used to be the First Bank of Port Tampa.

History: The bank building was built in 1926 by James G. Yeats and closed in 1933 after the stock market crash. Over the years it housed a grocery, a health clinic, a flight school, and a boutique. A separate Port Tampa City Library branch operated from 1951 to 1961 at 8611 Interbay Boulevard, staffed by volunteers until Port Tampa City was annexed by the City of Tampa in 1961; the city system took over in 1962. The original library building was demolished in 2006 due to asbestos and mold.

In the early 1990s, the Women’s Club raised funds to save the old bank building. It was made a historic landmark in 1994, and the club’s efforts helped raise about $5,000 for the project. In 1998 the 5,700-square-foot building reopened as the Port Tampa City Library, with a grand opening on June 14, 1998 (Flag Day and the centennial of Cuban troops sailing from Port Tampa during the Spanish–American War).

Inside, the library features marble and terrazzo floors, a decorative plaster ceiling, cherry cabinetry, and a second-floor Maritime Reading Room with more than 350 sea-themed books and displays of ship models and navigational items. The exterior has a marble base, white terracotta tiles, Ionic pilasters, and bronze doors. Benches once placed outside were moved to the second floor in 1998.

Programs include children’s and family story times, technology help, and other library events throughout the year.