See you tomorrow!

It's that time again! Let's gather to talk about how the 25th annual OSHNA Home Tour went, about parks, development, and our summer plans. Former OSHNA vice president and current Tampa City Council member Lynn Hurtak will join us to talk about the FREE HART Route 1 bus, and summer social activities will be on the calendar as well.

When: Tuesday, April 22nd at 6:30 p.m.

Where: Seminole Heights Branch Library, 4711 N Central Ave, Tampa, FL 33603

Thank you, everyone

On behalf of everyone on the OSHNA Home Tour Committee we thank all of you who volunteered, hosted, or attended this year's home tour. Reviews were universally positive, with the only possible caveat that we simply presented too many homes for everyone to have time to get to! We're overjoyed at the response and can't wait to talk more about it at the quarterly meeting.

For just $10 a year—or $25 for businesses—you help your neighborhood association represent neighbors' interests with the city, provide outreach to local businesses and organizations, and keep these newsletters flowing!

This Month In OSHNA History

It was this month 100 years ago that C.W. "Joe" Lyons first made lots in his subdivision for sale. Bordered by Florida Ave. to the west, Wilder to the north, Branch to the east, and Violet to the south, Lyons's subdivision constituted what was left of his property after selling the eastern half to the county for the construction of Hillsborough High School. Lyons purchased what had then been a farm in 1920 from local casket-builder R.L. Wilder and renamed it "Carolyon."

Lyons was one of the early presidents of the Seminole Heights Civic Club, a predecessor of OSHNA. He made his fortune after moving here from New York and teaching himself citrus fertilizer science, eventually becoming the primary resource for Florida's fast-growing industry in central (what was then known as "south") Florida.

If there's anyone fit to be known as the "parent of Old Seminole Heights," it's Joe Lyons—who helped pave the streets, connect the neighborhood to electricity and telephone service, and eventually accommodated the neighborhood's annexation into the city of Tampa despite fierce opposition.

The western portion of the subdivision, adjoining busy Florida Avenue, turned out better suited for commercial property than residential. Lyons's daughter Emma Marie eventually became its owner; after divorcing fellow Tampa high-society husband Karlyle O'Berry for "habitual intemperance" she moved to California with their daughter Lynn Marie "Terry" O'Berry.

We must mention one stain on the history of the neighborhood and of Joe Lyons himself. Even today, the county plat book description of the subdivision includes a ban on "anyone with African blood" from owning or renting property within it.



Similar rules can be found throughout this city, and understanding the ways in which these regulations controlled how Tampa developed is essential to knowing both its history and how that history influences issues today.

Over the years, myriad service stations, restaurants, and other businesses filled out what is now home to among other businesses Health Mutt and Common Dialect. This Burgert Bros. image shows the corner of Wilder and Florida looking south; the Sinclair service station on the corner in the left is where Health Mutt is now, and the building that is home to a service station on the right is now The Independent.

The best-known business to occupy the property was, of course, Seely's Drive-In.

Other businesses that lined the space along Florida Ave. included Slover's Pony Track for Children. With the downturn in our neighborhood through the 60s and 70s, these gave way to junkyards and used car lots. Things were rough!

The property still remained in the hands of Terry O'Berry, who after a stellar academic career including stints at Vassar and Stanford headed to Harvard — where she met Chilton Shepard "Tony" Cabot—himself a Harvard man and a direct descendant of John Cabot who went on to become a USMC colonel and top investment advisor at Forbes.

Terry finally sold the property in the 1980s near the end of her own career as an investment advisor. I (your editor, Tim Burke, speaking here) spoke with her son, Chilton Lyons "Toby" Cabot, who said he hadn't ever seen it but remembered it as one of his family's last ties to Tampa. The site began to rehab itself—including with a construction skills center—over the years, eventually becoming home to Kendra & Mike Conze's businesses Health Mutt and Common Dialect Beerworks.

Kendra & Mike had to navigate the complexities of renovating a building constructed

in 1987 to meet the requirements of today’s Architectural Review Commission. The large windows and mural on the side of the building were installed as part of those careful modifications. “Our decision to open Common Dialect wasn’t motivated by it being a good business decision; we did it because we wanted to invest in the neighborhood that’s given us our livelihood,” says Kendra. The Beerworks opened in 2023, is both pet- and family-friendly, and hosts the monthly Heights Local Market.

Hosting the monthly OSHNA Porch Party is one of the easiest and most fun ways to get involved in the neighborhood. With the Neighborhood Involvement Committee volunteers handling most of the arrangements, they aren't much work, either! To sign up to host, check out the link to the form in the button below.

As always, check our events calendar on Facebook or OldSeminoleHeights.org .