West Tampa was founded in 1892 by Scottish immigrant and local attorney Hugh Macfarlane, who bought 200 acres of forested land with the intention of starting a new development by luring some of the cigar factories and cigar workers from Ybor City, a very successful new immigrant community on the northeast side of Tampa.

The first cigar factory built in the area was forced to close temporarily because workers refused to ride a ferry across the Hillsborough River to the "wilds" of West Tampa.

Ybor City's social clubs regularly held large picnics, baseball games, and other events at West Tampa's spacious MacFarlane Park.

Some of the clubs built elaborate branch locations for their West Tampa members, further uniting the two increasingly homogeneous districts.

As Ybor City faded and emptied out after World War II, many of its residents moved to West Tampa, making it the largest predominantly Latin neighborhood in town.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, West Tampa received another large influx of Cuban immigrants as they fled Castro's revolution.

[9] While poverty and urban decay have been problematic issues in West Tampa since the 1970s,[10] the district has garnered renewed interest and appreciation for its history and culture.

[10] Redevelopment stalled during the 2008 recession,[12] but resumed several years later with several projects including new apartments, renovation and overhaul of Julian Lane Waterfront Park, and demolition of several city blocks of older public housing to be replaced with new townhome construction.

The West Tampa Historic District encompasses much of this area,[16] and Interstate 275, built in the 1960s, runs through the approximate center of the neighborhood.