The Tampa Bay Hotel

The most opulent hotel in the American South became, in the spring of 1898, the nerve center of a nation going to war. Theodore Roosevelt planned the Cuba campaign in its grand halls. Clara Barton organized Red Cross relief from its verandas. Reporters, generals, and diplomats crowded its corridors. Today it stands as Plant Hall at the University of Tampa — a Moorish marvel that witnessed history.

Railroad magnate Henry B. Plant built the Tampa Bay Hotel at a staggering cost of $3 million — an almost incomprehensible sum in 1891. The structure rose from the banks of the Hillsborough River with 511 rooms, Moorish minarets, and a collection of European furnishings and art that Plant and his wife assembled over years of travel abroad.

When it opened in February 1891, the Tampa Bay Hotel became the social and cultural centerpiece of early Tampa — drawing presidents, celebrities, and high society from across the country to what was then a small, sandy Florida town. The hotel's silver minarets visible from miles away became the defining symbol of Tampa's ambitions.

When the United States declared war on Spain in April 1898, Tampa became the primary staging ground for the invasion of Cuba — and the Tampa Bay Hotel became the headquarters for the U.S. Army command. General Nelson Miles, commanding general of the U.S. Army, established his headquarters here. Officers from across the country crowded the lobbies and parlors, planning the campaign over maps spread across Plant's imported furniture.

Theodore Roosevelt — then Lieutenant Colonel of the Rough Riders — was a frequent presence at the hotel, coordinating logistics, meeting with officers, and working the press. Richard Harding Davis, the era's most celebrated war correspondent, reported from the hotel's verandas. Clara Barton organized her Red Cross relief operation from Tampa as the hotel hummed with the energy of a nation at war.