The next installment of six historical monuments were introduced to Tampa this morning at a ceremony behind the Tampa Convention Center.
It was the third such group of figures to be revealed since 2012 for installation on Tampa's Riverwalk. The collection will ultimately feature 30 noteworthy people who have had a major impact on the development of Tampa and Hillsborough County.
The memorials are in a section of Tampa's Riverwalk called the Historical Monument Trail. The newest additions will be moved in to their permanent positions along the waterfront soon.
Honorees were chosen by a panel appointed by The Friends of the Riverwalk in collaboration with the Tampa Bay History Center . The panel was made up of historians and folklore experts. Once completed, the trail will not only exhibit bronze busts of honorees, but several historic informational monuments spread throughout it's length.
Today's honorees were Blanche Armwood, educator and community leader; Herman Glogowski, first Jewish mayor of Tampa and community leader; Gavino Gutierrez, civil engineer who urged Vicente Ybor to locate in Tampa and early developer of Ybor City; Bena Wolf Maas, business woman, civic leader, and humanitarian; Hugh Campbell Macfarlane, attorney, businessman, and an important leader in the development of West Tampa; and, Moses White, businessman, community leader, and philanthropist.
Mayor Bob Buckhorn and Steve Anderson, president of Friends of the Riverwalk, along with many family members of the honorees were present for the celebration. Anderson stated that it takes more than a year to develop the sculptures from old photos, drawings, and sketches. Each pedestal is made out of solid granite and weighs more than one ton.
A map of the current installations along with the entire Riverwalk may be found at the Tampa Riverwalk web site.
