[4] The party excluded African Americans from meaningful involvement in Tampa's municipal elections for decades.
As mayor he led infrastructure projects including street paving, sidewalk construction, brick firehouses, Tampa City Hall, and the fairgrounds.
[2] In 1910, the International Socialist Review accused him of targeting union workers and said the streets of Tampa were not safe to walk with him as mayor.
[5] On December 30, 1913, he would welcome Tony Jannus after his airboat flight from St. Petersburg to Tampa, the first commercial flight in the U.S.[6] During World War I, President Woodrow Wilson appointed McKay to serve as the chairman of the President's Advisory Committee for Southwest Florida.
[7] Starting in 1946 and until his death, he wrote the column "Pioneer Florida" which was published in The Tampa Tribune.