“Happy Birthday Tampa” This is Something to Think About 07.18.25
Something to Think About
Audio By Carbonatix
“Happy Birthday Tampa”
Bill Bunkley’s “This Is Something to Think About”
Air Date Friday, July 18, 2025
Happy birthday, Tampa, on your 138th birthday on July 15.
I’m a proud Tampa native, born at the original St. Joseph Hospital, which was then located on 7th Avenue.
During a pivotal era, Tampa, along with Key West, was a hub for the cigar manufacturing industry, with close ties to Cuba. Hand-rolling cigar craftsmen gathered in huge work areas to produce the product, while a person known as a “lector” would be perched high above the workers to read the news of the day.
Today we listen to the radio, cable TV, and the internet.
Take a drive through Ybor City and West Tampa, and you’ll still see the narrow “shotgun” housing that was constructed for the cigar workers.
And if you haven’t, I would recommend a visit to the Tampa Bay History Center, where you can learn about Tampa’s beginnings, from the establishment of Ft. Brooke, all the way to today.
Bill Bunkley is a 19-year veteran Salem Media talk show host based in Tampa. The Bill Bunkley Show airs weekdays from 3 to 6 pm across central Florida. Bill is also President of the Florida Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission and the legislative consultant to the Florida Baptist State Convention (Southern Baptist Convention Churches), among other churches and entities. He has served as the legislative consultant to the Florida Baptist State Convention for the last 29 years at the state capitol in Tallahassee. By the Grace of his Lord Jesus, he is today a cancer survivor diagnosed in 2018 with AML Leukemia, having successfully undergone a bone marrow transplant that same year. His wife is Toni, son is Zac, and they attend Idlewild Baptist Church.
Copyright © William H. (Bill) Bunkley 2025 All Rights Reserved
