Tampa, Florida 33603
An unofficial website for the Southeast Seminole Heights neighborhood.
(A 2002 NUSA National Neighborhood of the Year Finalist)
"An Activist Neighborhood"
Where is a good place to...? / Prostitution Fight Update / Giddens Park / Civic Association / Service Providers
Early History
Southeast Seminole Heights is composed of many platted subdivisions, including Demorest, Sultenfuss, Nebraska Heights, Nebraska Park, Shadowlawn, Hanley Heights and McDavid East Seminole Subdivisions among many others. The largest subdivisions are Demorest and Nebraska Heights. At that time these areas were platted, the City of Tampa limits stopped at what was known then as Buffalo Avenue (now Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd) and this area was one of the early suburbs of Tampa.
Demorest ranges from Osborne Ave. north to New Orleans from Nebraska to 13th Street and includes sections of Ellicott and Caracas. Demorest was originally known as General Allen Thomas Subdivision and was platted and surveyed in September 1906. General AllenThomas was a Brigadier General in the Confederate States during the Civil War. After the war he held many positions including U.S. consul to Venezuela. He lived in Florida from 1889 to 1907.
Nebraska Heights was surveyed in 1907 and encompasses the area from Osborne to Chelsea from 12th -15th Streets.
McDavid's East Seminole Subdivision, encompassing Hillsborough to Frierson from 12-15th Streets, is a Johnny come lately, being platted in 1921 and was likely named to take advantage of the publicity generated from the various Seminole Heights subdivisions (in Old Seminole Heights) which had recently been developed.
The William E. Curtis House at 808 E. Curtis in Southeast Seminole Heights is the only home in the greater Seminole Heights area listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was one of the first residential structures erected (in 1905/1906) in the area of Seminole Heights. Curtis was a nurseryman who developed the area.
Recent History
Southeast Seminole Heights had been primarily a white middle class neighborhood with a Cuban/Spanish minority. As with most inner city neighborhoods, in the late 60 and 70’s the neighborhood economic, cultural and home ownership demographics changed. Interstate-275 was built in the center of Seminole Heights tearing apart the neighborhoods. The neighborhood fell into an economic decline.
In the late 1980s a group of residents formed the Southeast Seminole Heights Clean up League to revitalize the neighborhood. One of the major accomplishments of the League was getting the City to close down a disruptive neighborhood bar, Boogies. In 1990 that League developed into the current Southeast Seminole Heights Civic Association. At that time the boundaries were Nebraska to 12th Street, Osborne to Hillsborough. Since then, as the request of residents in the areas bordering the original boundaries, the Association expanded to its current boundaries. Remnants of the original boundaries can be seen in the location of the Neighborhood signs located on the 12th Street, with the southern sign at Louisiana.
Currently the neighborhood is very proud to be a racially, culturally and sexual orientationally diverse neighborhood, no longer the racially segregated neighborhood of it’s early history. There are equal percentages of African-Americans, Hispanics and Whites in the neighborhood. Many gays and lesbians call the neighborhood home and have helped lead the revitalization efforts. The make up of the Hispanic population changed from a primarily Cuban/Spanish population to a mixture of many Latin and Central American Hispanics, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Mexicans. Economically the neighborhood is returning to its middle class roots and many young families and couples are moving back in. Home ownership has increased. Crime has decreased and property values have increased dramatically.
Email: [email protected] Last Updated 2/25/03