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What's in a Name: Howard Frankland Bridge and Lowry Park

By Corey Beckman
Published  February 13, 2025 5:36am EST
Tampa
FOX 13 News

How the Howard Frankland Bridge & Lowry Park got named

Tampa Bay area residents are familiar with the Howard Frankland Bridge and Lowry Park, but how many people know how those names came about? FOX 13 traffic anchor Alyse Zwick takes a look at their origins.

The Brief

    • Howard Frankland was a prominent businessman who proposed building the bridge to connect Tampa to Pinellas County.
    • Frankland paved the way as construction began in June 1957 and the bridge was completed in April 1960, becoming the fourth and final span across Tampa Bay.

TAMPA, Fla. - When it comes to having a road named after you, sometimes it helps if you just own the right plot of land – such was the case with Howard Frankland in the 1950s.

"When I-4, which is now the path of I-275, was cutting across west Tampa and was going to go across Tampa Bay, they needed to acquire land, and then they needed to build a bridge," says Tampa Bay History Center historian Rodney Kite-Powell.

Howard Frankland was a prominent businessman who owned the property on the Tampa side of the proposed bridge that bears his name.

Howard Frankland was a prominent businessman who owned the property on the Tampa side of the proposed bridge that bears his name.

The backstory:

Howard Frankland owned the property on the Tampa side of the proposed bridge. He was also a prominent businessman in town, and owned Pioneer Tires.

Pictured: Howard Frankland.

Pictured: Howard Frankland.

"It just made a lot of logic, given his stature in the community and his ownership of the property adjacent to the bridge, that it would be called the Howard Frankland Bridge," says Kite-Powell.

Construction began in June 1957 and the bridge was completed in April 1960, becoming the fourth and final span across Tampa Bay.

Howard Frankland was a prominent businessman who owned the property on the Tampa side of the proposed bridge that bears his name.

Howard Frankland was a prominent businessman who owned the property on the Tampa side of the proposed bridge that bears his name.

In some cases, when it comes to naming landmarks, it helps to be the "man with the plan", like Dr. Sumter de Leon Lowry.

Pictured: Dr. Sumter de Leon Lowry.

Pictured: Dr. Sumter de Leon Lowry.

His main job was owner of an insurance company. But he was also a Tampa City commissioner for three consecutive terms in the 1920s.

READ: What's in a name: Gandy Bridge

Lowry saw a big opportunity on a large parcel of land west of the Hillsborough River, just opposite of Sulphur Springs. Originally slated to be a cemetery, the land sat vacant for years.

Lowry Park is named in honor of Dr. Sumter de Leon Lowry.

Lowry Park is named in honor of Dr. Sumter de Leon Lowry.

"The city wanted to have a larger park and a zoo. And since it was Lowry who initiated the idea of having the park space, they went ahead and named it for him," says Kite-Powell.

In the late 1920s, Lowry Park got its first zoo and, during the Great Depression, it was home to a work camp. The attraction "Fairyland" opened in the park in 1957.

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The Source: Information for this story was gathered by FOX 13's Corey Beckman.

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