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Henry B. Plant. Henry Bradley Plant (October 27, 1819 – June 23, 1899), was a businessman, entrepreneur, and investor involved with many transportation interests and projects, mostly railroads, in the southeastern United States. He was founder of the Plant System of railroads and steamboats . Born in 1819 in Branford, Connecticut ...
Henry Bradley Plant (October 27, 1819 – June 23, 1899), founder of the Plant System of railroads and steamship lines, was born into a modest farming family in Branford, Connecticut. At the age of six, he lost his father and younger sister to typhus fever and was raised by his mother, step-father and grandmother.
The Henry B. Plant Museum (Plant Museum) is located in the south wing of Plant Hall on the University of Tampa 's campus, located at 401 West Kennedy Boulevard in Tampa, Florida.
Welcome to the Henry B. Plant Museum. The Henry B. Plant Museum is housed in the former Tampa Bay Hotel, which was a Victorian railroad resort that operated from 1891 - 1932. Since 1933, the Tampa Bay Hotel has been home to the Henry B. Plant Museum and the University of Tampa.
Henry B. Plant Museum - History. 10 am - 5 pm. History. During the 1880’s, Henry Bradley Plant was building an empire of railroads, steamships and hotels. He wanted that empire to have a palace and that palace was the Tampa Bay Hotel.
Henry B. Plant’s South Florida Railroad arrived in 1884 and stimulated population growth and new industry. Plant developed port facilities extensively and promoted tourism, building the lavish, Moorish-style Tampa Bay Hotel in 1891.
Henry B. Plant Museum. The 1891 Tampa Bay Hotel, now a National Historic Landmark, is home to The University of Tampa and the Henry B. Plant Museum. During the 1880s, Henry Bradley Plant was building an empire of railroads, steamships and hotels.
In the late 1870s and early 1880s, Plant began to purchase and develop railway companies in order to build a system along the southern Atlantic seaboard. Also in the 1880s, he began acquiring and creating steamboat lines and hotels in cities served by both his rail and steamer lines.
When Henry B. Plant was born in 1819, Florida was still under Spanish control. By 1821, Florida was named a United States Territory, and in 1845 it became a state. Before his death in 1899, Plant helped to develop Florida with railways, steamships, and luxury hotels.
The Henry B. Plant Museum holds the distinction of accreditation by the American Alliance of Museums. Its mission is to interpret the history and lifestyle of America’s Gilded Age and the life and significant contributions of Henry Bradley Plant to the development of Florida and Tampa Bay.
