Temple Terrace is a city in northeastern Hillsborough County, Florida, United States, adjacent to Tampa.

The original inhabitants of the Temple Terrace area were known as the Tocobaga, a group of Native Americans living around Tampa Bay, both in prehistoric and historic times, until roughly 1760.

Spanish exploration of the Temple Terrace area dates back to 1757 when explorer Don Francisco Maria Celi of the Spanish Royal Fleet made his way up the Hillsborough River (naming it "El Rio de San Julian y Arriaga") to what is now Riverhills Park in search of pine trees to use as masts for his ships.

A historic marker and a replica of the cross erected to honor St. Theresa are found in Riverhills Park today.

Up to 1913, the longleaf pine, sand live oak, and cypress trees made the area suitable for turpentine manufacturing and logging.

Because it escaped logging, the grounds of the clubhouse harbor some of the largest specimens of live oak and longleaf pine in the city.

At her death, the trustee of her estate and brother, Adrian Honoré, sold her local land holdings to Burks Hamner, Vance Helm, Maud Fowler, Cody Fowler, and D. Collins Gillett, who formed two development corporations: Temple Terrace Estates, Inc., which developed the golf course and residential areas; and Temple Terraces, Inc., which developed 5,000 acres (20 km2) of orange groves that originally surrounded the city to the west and north, the largest orange grove in the world in the 1920s.

His father, Myron E. Gillett, thirty-first mayor of Tampa, was instrumental in popularizing the exotic hybrid Temple orange in the United States.

Temple Terrace was originally only occupied during "The Season" (which lasted roughly from December to the annual Washington Ball held at the clubhouse on February 22).

"Long" Jim Barnes was the resident professional of the course at the time (James Kelly Thomson was the course's first pro), and every major golfer of the day competed in the event except for Bobby Jones.

The golf-course architect was Tom Bendelow, who also designed Medinah Country Club's Course #3 in Chicago, a 7,508-yard (6,865 m) golf course that has hosted three U.S.

In addition, there are over 35 houses in the city designed by architect Dwight James Baum, which is thought to be the largest collection of his work in the Southeast.

There is now a fine collection of mid-century modern homes and buildings, at least two of which were designed by well-known architect Frank Albert DePasquale.

Numerous new subdivisions were created during this period giving the city a firm tax base and identity that made Temple Terrace a desirable safe place for raising families, conducting business, and an environmentally sound community.

The city hired noted town planner Torti Gallas + Partners in 2004 to create a New Urbanist master plan and redevelopment code for the entire 225-acre (0.91 km2) downtown area (four quadrants of 56th Street and Busch Boulevard), all with citizen input.

The city also initiated a form-based code for its downtown, created a façade-improvement grant program, implemented a multi-modal transportation model to encourage alternatives to the automobile, and began revitalizing 56th Street with entry towers, landscaping, street furniture, placing utilities underground, and improved lighting.

Many of Temple Terrace's residents teach or work at the nearby University of South Florida, and the close-knit community has strong ties to that institution.

Eureka Springs Park, located to the east of Temple Terrace, is Hillsborough County's only botanical garden.

Poet Robert Frost and other famous personalities made it a point to visit Greenberg in the years before World War II.

The Museum of Science & Industry, commonly called MOSI, is located in Tampa near the Temple Terrace city line.

[7] The city is bounded by Tampa to the west and north, Del Rio to the south, and rural Hillsborough County, near Interstate 75, to the east.

There are meeting and study rooms, safe areas for children, and a Book Nook provided by the local Friends of the Temple Terrace Library organization.

There are programs for children, teens, and adults which include activities and resources for certain age groups and developmental levels ranging from storytime to crafts and appropriate games.

The library also offers many resources beyond books such as sewing machines, cooking items, tools, board games, and neckties to borrow for various reasons.