TAMPA, Fla. — On Nov. 18, 1963, President John F. Kennedy came to Tampa, Florida. It was his final stop before heading to Dallas, Texas, where he was assassinated on Nov. 22.
Sixty-one years later, Kennedy's visit to Tampa has left a lingering mark, if you know where to look. The most obvious memorial — Kennedy Boulevard in downtown Tampa.
Back in 2013, 10 Tampa Bay spoke with Rodney Kite-Powell, the curator of history at the Tampa Bay History Center. The history center has one of the oldest maps of Tampa. On that old map, part of what is now Kennedy Boulevard is called Lafayette Street.
The 35th president "traveled along what was then called Lafayette Street, through downtown Tampa and then Grand Central Avenue through Hyde Park," Kite-Powell said at the time. "And because of that, that was the street they decided to name in his honor after his assassination."
The city renamed the street in 1964, a year after his visit and subsequent death. Kite-Powell added in addition to honoring Kennedy, renaming the street had an additional benefit — convenience and a unifying name.
"Depending on where you were on what is now Kennedy Boulevard, the street would either have been called Lafayette Street — in the downtown portion... [then] it became Grand Central. And then, at Howard Avenue, [the street] turned into Memorial Highway," he said. "[It's] good to have a unifying name for that street."
A statue of the late president sits on the edge of the University of Tampa campus. It continues to look out onto the street that bears his name. The memorial houses a marble statue of Kennedy and some of his most iconic quotes are engraved on plaques that surround the statue, completing the president's memorial.
During JFK's visit to Tampa, he visited MacDill Air Force Base, the home of Strike Command, in order to receive a secret briefing from Gen. Paul D. Davis.
If you head over to Lykes Gaslight Park on Madison Street in downtown Tampa, you can see a plaque dedicated to the president. It was unveiled on Nov. 18, 2013, during a ceremony commemorating the 50th anniversary of Kennedy's visit.
The plaque briefly recounts how Kennedy spent the day in Tampa, including the stop at MacDill. Kennedy spoke about U.S.-Cuban relations at Al Lopez Stadium and also spoke at Fort Homer Hesterly Armory in Tampa.
