Fort Brooke

The village of Tampa developed just north of the fort during this period, and the area was the site of a minor raid and skirmish during the American Civil War.

The obsolete outpost was sparsely garrisoned after the war, and it was decommissioned in 1883 just before Tampa began a period of rapid growth, opening the land for development.

In 1823, Colonels George Mercer Brooke and James Gadsden of the United States Army were ordered to establish a military presence on Tampa Bay in the newly acquired Florida Territory to contain the Seminole Indians according to the Treaty of Moultrie Creek and to curtail illegal activities along the Gulf coast.

The site was marked by a huge hickory tree atop an ancient Indian mound, most likely built by the Tocobaga culture centuries before.

Brooke directed his troops to clear the area for the construction of a wooden log fort and support buildings, but he ordered that several ancient live oak trees inside the encampment be spared to provide shade and cheer.