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53-505: Safety Harbor is a city on the west shore of Tampa Bay in Pinellas County , Florida , United States. It was settled in 1823 and incorporated in 1917. The population was 17,072 at the 2020 census. The area has been inhabited since the Stone Age . In June 2008, a 6,000-year-old spearhead was found at Marshall Street Park. The inhabitants of the area at the time of Spanish exploration were

106-514: A leak of 65 million gallons of acidic water from a Cargill phosphate plant on the bay's southern shore severely impacted wetlands in the vicinity of the spill. And in April 2021, a breach of a wastewater reservoir at the long-closed Piney Point phosphate plant sent over 200 millions gallons of nutrient-rich mine tailings streaming into lower Tampa Bay. The resulting growth of red tide algae led to an ecocide and killed over 1000 tons of fish in

159-518: A wide mouth connecting it to the Gulf of Mexico . Prior to that time, it was a large fresh water lake, possibly fed by the Floridan Aquifer through natural springs . Though the exact process of the lake-to-bay transformation is not completely understood, the leading theory is that rising sea levels following the last ice age coupled with the formation of a massive sink hole near the current mouth of

212-466: Is 21.8% under the age of 18, 4.9% from 18 to 24, 28.6% from 25 to 44, 27.4% from 45 to 64, and 17.3% age 65 or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females, there were 91.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.1 males. In 2000, the median income for a household in the city was $ 51,378, and the median income for a family was $ 59,911. Males had a median income of $ 41,883 versus $ 31,165 for females. The per capita income for

265-456: Is extremely vulnerable to sea level rise caused by climate change. The sea level has risen 8 inches (200 mm) since 1946. Tampa Bay is also one of the areas in the US most at risk when hurricanes arrive because of its location, growing population, and the geography of the bay. The Tampa Bay Regional Resiliency Coalition coordinates the region's response to climate change. Communities throughout

318-417: Is land and 0.1 square miles (0.26 km) (2.57%) is water. As of the 2020 United States census , there were 17,072 people, 6,903 households, and 4,781 families residing in the city. As of the 2010 United States census , there were 16,884 people, 7,073 households, and 4,750 families residing in the city. As of the census of 2000, there are 17,203 people, 7,084 households, and 4,845 families residing in

371-562: Is now known, continues to be a prominent visitor attraction in Pinellas County. In 1964, the site was designated a Historical Landmark by the U.S. Department of the Interior and, in 1997, a Florida Heritage Landmark. The city is located on the west side of Safety Harbor, a waterway connected to Tampa Bay . According to the U.S. Census Bureau , the city has a total area of 5.1 square miles (13 km), of which 4.9 square miles (13 km)

424-447: Is often difficult, since methodologies, definitions and data quality can vary greatly. Since the 1990s, the OECD has conducted regular surveys among its 38 member countries using a standardized methodology and set of questions. Per capita income is often used to measure a sector's average income and compare the wealth of different populations. Per capita income is also often used to measure

477-635: Is part of the Pinellas Public Library Cooperative . Safety Harbor is governed by an elected Mayor and City Commission. City governmental departments are administered by a City Manager, who is appointed by the City Commission. There are two public schools within the city: Safety Harbor Elementary School for grades one to five, and Safety Harbor Middle School for grades 6 to 8. The CSX railroad branch line from Tampa to St. Petersburg bisects Safety Harbor. Passenger trains last used

530-458: Is still visible in Safety Harbor's Phillippe Park ( see photo ). Shells found in these mounds were used to pave city streets. In 1528 Spanish explorer Pánfilo de Narváez landed in the area, followed by Hernando de Soto in 1539. Safety Harbor (formerly known as Worth's Harbor and Green's Springs) was first homesteaded by Count Odet Philippe , a French nobleman who is credited with introducing

583-498: The Alafia , Manatee , and Little Manatee rivers the next largest sources. Because of these many flows into the bay, its large watershed covers portions of five Florida counties and approximately 2,200 square miles (5,700 km ). The bottom of Tampa Bay is silty and sandy, with an average water depth of only about 12 feet (3.7 m). The relatively shallow water and tidal mud flats allow for large sea grass beds, and along with

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636-467: The Tocobaga people, who lived in villages around Tampa Bay. The adaptation of this culture relied on wild resources. Safety Harbor sites have yielded pottery, and artifacts of copper, shell, and stone. The Tocobaga were known for constructing various ceremonial and communal mounds to bury the dead. Most of these mounds were destroyed in the early 1900s due to development. However, one of these ceremonial mounds

689-511: The grapefruit to Florida in 1823. The name Safety Harbor originated from the early 18th century, when pirates were a substantial influence in the area. Once ships reached this area of the bay, all threats from pirates were gone, and it was commonly referred to as a "Safe Harbor". Safety Harbor is the home of the historic Espiritu Santo Springs, or "Springs of the Holy Spirit", a natural mineral spring . Its waters were given this name in 1539 by

742-403: The 1950s. However, industrial and agricultural runoff along with runoff from developed areas pose a continuing threat to marine ecosystems in the bay, particularly by clouding the water with sediments and algae blooms, and seagrass coverage declined slightly in the late 2010s. Wastewater pollution from old phosphate plants near the shoreline has been a particular problem. For example, in 2004,

795-472: The 20th century. Today, the area is home to about 4 million residents, making Tampa Bay a heavily used commercial and recreational waterway and subjecting it to increasing amounts of pollutants from industry, agriculture, sewage, and surface runoff . The bay's water quality was seriously degraded by the early 1980s, resulting in a sharp decline in sea life and decreased availability for recreational use. Greater care has been taken in recent decades to mitigate

848-593: The Bay, including St. Petersburg and Tampa are adapting infrastructure and buildings to face changes in sea level. Humans have lived in Florida for millennia, at least 14,000 years. Due to worldwide glaciation, sea levels were much lower at the time, and Florida's peninsula extended almost 60 miles west of today's coastline. Paleo-Indian sites have been found near rivers and lakes in northern Florida, leading to speculation that these first Floridians also lived on Tampa Bay when it

901-595: The Corps of Engineers dredged another channel from the mouth of Tampa Bay to the Port of Tampa, instantly making the city an important shipping center. The Corps of Engineers currently maintains more than 80 miles of deep-water channels in Tampa Bay up to a depth of 47 feet. These must be continuously re-dredged and deepened due to the sandy nature of the bay bottom. While dredging has enabled seaborne commerce to become an important part of

954-513: The Floridian leg of the Trail of Tears . For the next 100 years, many new communities were founded around the bay. Fort Brooke begat Tampa on the northeast shore, Fort Harrison (a minor military outpost on Florida's west coast) begat Clearwater , the trading post of "Braden's Town" developed into Bradenton on the south, and St. Petersburg grew quickly after its founding in the late 19th century, on

1007-483: The Interbay peninsula and Hillsboro Bay on the east with an overall name of Bay of Spiritu Santo . At other times, the entire bay was identified as The Bay of Tocobaga. The United States acquired Florida from Spain in 1821. The name Spirito Santo seems to have disappeared from maps of the region in favor of "Tampa Bay" (sometimes divided into Tampa and Hillsboro Bays) soon after the US established Fort Brooke at

1060-483: The Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto, who was supposedly searching for the mythical " Fountain of Youth ". Prior to the Spanish exploration of Florida, the Tocobaga and Timuquan tribes are believed to have fished and bathed in the spring's waters. In the 20th century, Espiritu Santo water was bottled and sold commercially, and later a health spa and hotel were built over the springs. The Safety Harbor Resort and Spa, as it

1113-495: The Tampa Bay area's economy, it has also damaged the bay's water quality and ecology. More care has been taken in recent decades to lessen the environmental impact of dredging. Dredged material has also been used to create several spoil islands on the eastern side of Hillsboro Bay. These islands have become important nesting sites for many seabirds, including threatened species such as oystercatchers , and have been designated as "sanctuary islands" that are off-limits to boaters. In

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1166-456: The Tampa Bay region would be virtually uninhabited for almost 200 years. Tampa Bay was given different names by early mapmakers. Spanish maps dated from 1584 identifies Tampa Bay as Baya de Spirito Santo ("Bay of the Holy Spirit "). A map dated 1695 identifies the area as Bahia Tampa . Later maps dated 1794 and 1800 show the bay divided with three different names, Tampa Bay west of

1219-404: The age of 18 living with them, 56.3% were married couples living together, 9.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.6% were non-families. 25.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.37 and the average family size was 2.85. In 2000, the age distribution of the population

1272-489: The average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such as the American Community Survey . This allows the calculation of per capita income for both the country as a whole and specific regions or demographic groups. However, comparing per capita income across different countries

1325-529: The bay and along the nearby gulf coast and may lead to further damage to seagrass beds. The effects of Hurricane Milton in October 2024 caused polluted waste from the fertilizer industry including products from Mosaic , which were retained after the production of phosphate, to enter into Tampa Bay. Both Hurricane Milton and Hurricane Helene caused disruption in the production of phosphate fertilizers from Tampa Bay. Tampa Bay, like other parts of Florida ,

1378-427: The bay created a connection between the lake and the gulf. Tampa Bay is Florida's largest open-water estuary, extending over 400 square miles (1,000 km ) and forming coastlines of Hillsborough , Manatee and Pinellas counties. The freshwater sources of the bay are distributed among over a hundred small tributaries, rather than a single river. The Hillsborough River is the largest such freshwater source, with

1431-503: The bay was connected to the Gulf of Mexico. This culture, which relied almost exclusively on the bay for food and other resources, was in turn replaced by the similar Safety Harbor culture by approximately 800 AD. The pre-contact Indigenous nation most associated with the Tampa Bay are the historic Tocobaga nation, who are known to be among the ancestors of the contemporary Seminole and Miccosukee Tribes of Florida. The Safety Harbor culture

1484-433: The bay. Not finding gold or silver in the vicinity and unable to convert the native inhabitants to Christianity, the Spanish did not remain in the Tampa Bay area for long. However, diseases they introduced decimated the native population over the ensuing decades, leading to the near-total collapse of every established culture across peninsular Florida. Between this depopulation and the indifference of its colonial owners,

1537-591: The century and severely impacting the marine ecosystem. Many previously common species became scarce, and bay beaches were regularly closed due to unsafe levels of bacteria and pollutants. Beginning in the early 1980s after federal and state legislation to improve water quality, authorities installed improved water treatment plants and tightened regulation of industrial discharge , leading to slow but steady improvement in water quality and general ecological health. By 2010, measures of sea grass coverage, water clarity, and biodiversity had improved to levels last seen in

1590-470: The city of Tampa's downtown wharves on Hillsboro Bay. Most ships would anchor well out from shore and transfer cargo and passengers to and from the city in smaller boats. Henry B. Plant 's railroad line reached the area in 1884 and ran across the Interbay Peninsula to Old Tampa Bay, where he built the town and shipping facility of Port Tampa at its terminus. In 1898, Plant used his connections in

1643-582: The city was $ 28,632. About 3.6% of families and 5.6% of the population were below the poverty line , including 5.1% of those under age 18 and 8.3% of those age 65 or over. The Safety Harbor Public Library was founded in 1938 by the Women's Civic Club of Safety Harbor with funds from the federal Works Progress Administration program (WPA). The library was originally housed inside the Community House located at 2nd St. N and 6th Ave N. On November 25, 1938, Daisy Cahow

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1696-522: The city. The population density was 3,498.3 inhabitants per square mile (1,350.7/km). There were 7,483 housing units at an average density of 1,521.7 per square mile (587.5/km). The racial makeup of the city is 92.23% White , 4.14% African American , 0.24% Native American , 1.68% Asian , 0.05% Pacific Islander , 0.44% from other races, and 1.21% from two or more races. 3.65% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race. As of 2000, there were 7,084 households, out of which 28.8% had children under

1749-399: The clearing of mangroves for shoreline development were important factors. Most damaging was the discharge of waste water and other pollutants into the bay, which drastically degraded water quality. The bay's health reached a low point in the 1970s. The water was so murky that sunlight could not reach the shallow bottom, reducing sea grass coverage by more than 80% compared to earlier in

1802-541: The early 1500s, but there were likely smaller chiefdoms on the eastern side of the bay which were not well documented. The indigenous population had been decimated by disease and warfare by the late 1600s, and there were no permanent human settlements in the area for over a century. The United States took possession of Florida in 1821 and established Fort Brooke at the mouth of the Hillsborough River in 1824. The communities surrounding Tampa Bay grew tremendously during

1855-408: The early 20th century, traveling overland between the growing communities around Tampa Bay was an arduous process. The trip between Tampa and St. Petersburg was almost 50 miles (80 km) around the north end of Old Tampa Bay and took up to 12 hours by train and over a full day over uncertain roads by car. The trip between St. Petersburg and Bradenton was even longer – over 70 miles (110 km) all

1908-529: The effects of human habitation on Tampa Bay, most notably upgraded sewage treatment facilities and several sea grass restoration projects, resulting in improved water quality over time. However, occasional red tide and other algae blooms have caused concern about the ongoing health of the estuary. The term "Tampa Bay" is often used as shorthand to refer to all or parts of the Tampa Bay area , which comprises many towns and cities in several counties surrounding

1961-554: The federal government to make Port Tampa a major embarkation point for the U.S. Army during the Spanish–American War , leading to the U.S. Congress appropriating funds for the United States Army Corps of Engineers to begin the first large dredging operation in Tampa Bay. A deep shipping channel was created which linked Port Tampa to the mouth of the bay, enabling Plant to greatly expand his steamship line. In 1917,

2014-401: The large body of water. Local marketing and branding efforts (including several professional sports teams, tourist boards, and chambers of commerce) commonly use the moniker "Tampa Bay", furthering the misconception that it is the name of a particular municipality when this is not the case. Tampa Bay formed approximately 6,000 years ago as a brackish drowned river valley type estuary with

2067-464: The library until October 1980 when full operation was taken over by the City. As the population of the city continued to grow, the library again outgrew the space and construction of a new building began in 1993 at its current location on 2nd Ave N with the new library opening on October 1, 1994. In February 2024, construction began on a second-floor addition to the current library. Safety Harbor Public Library

2120-544: The line in 1984. Tampa Bay The shores of Tampa Bay were home to the Weeden Island Culture and then the Safety Harbor culture for thousands of years. These cultures relied heavily on Tampa Bay for food, and the waters were rich enough that they were one of the few Native American cultures that did not have to farm. The Tocobaga was likely the dominant chiefdom in the area when Spanish explorers arrived in

2173-563: The mouth of the Hillsborough River in 1824. For the next several decades, during the Seminole Wars , the Tampa Bay would be a primary point of confrontation, detention, and forced expulsion of the Seminole & Miccosukee people of Florida. Fort Brooke, Fort Dade, and the American military's miscellaneous Egmont Key facilities were the primary sites associated with the removal of the Seminole in

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2226-514: The new library. Construction for the new building began on March 4, 1949 and the library opened in November 1949. The Women's Civic Club continued to operate the library in its new building, however, by 1978 it had become difficult for the club to provide adequate funding on its own. The property was deeded to the City of Safety Harbor in exchange for yearly funding, and the Civic Club continued to operate

2279-510: The refuge on Egmont Key . Most of the islands (including several man-made islands built from dredge spoil ) and sandbars are off-limits to the public, due to their fragile ecology and their use as nesting sites by many species of birds. The Tampa Bay Estuary Program keeps watch over the Bay's health. Tampa Bay was once teeming with fish and wildlife. People of the Safety Harbor culture lived almost entirely from mullet, shellfish, sea turtles, manatees, crabs, and other bounties harvested from

2332-408: The sea. As late as the early 20th century, visitors still reported huge schools of mullet swimming across the bay in such numbers that they "impeded the passage of boats". The establishment and rapid growth of surrounding communities during the 20th century caused serious damage to the bay's natural environment. Heavy harvesting of fish and other sea life, constant dredging of shipping channels, and

2385-532: The shoreline. Albert Whitted Airport on the St. Petersburg waterfront and Peter O. Knight Airport on Davis Island near downtown Tampa were both established in the 1930s. Later, Tampa International Airport and St. Pete–Clearwater International Airport were established on opposite sides of Old Tampa Bay, and MacDill Air Force Base opened on the southern tip of Tampa's Interbay Peninsula. Per capita income Per capita income ( PCI ) or average income measures

2438-602: The surrounding mangrove -dominated wetlands, the bay provides habitat for a wide variety of wildlife. More than 200 species of fish are found in the waters of the bay, along with bottlenose dolphins and manatees , plus many types of marine invertebrates including oysters , scallops , clams , shrimp and crab . More than two dozen species of birds, including brown pelicans , several types of heron and egret , Roseate spoonbills , cormorants , and laughing gulls make their year-round home along its shores and small islands, with several other migratory species joining them in

2491-499: The surrounding communities much faster and furthering the economic development of the Tampa Bay area. The difficulty of traveling between Tampa and St. Petersburg in the early 20th century inspired the world's first scheduled air service, the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line , which operated during the tourist season of 1914. While the construction of bridges made air travel across Tampa Bay unnecessary, several airports have been built along

2544-608: The way around Tampa Bay, a trip that still took about two hours into the 1950s. In 1924, the Gandy Bridge over Old Tampa Bay reduced the driving distance between Tampa and St. Petersburg to 19 miles (31 km). Ten years later, the Davis Causeway (later renamed the Courtney Campbell Causeway ) was built between Clearwater and Tampa. More bridges criss-crossed Tampa Bay over the ensuing decades, making travel between

2597-543: The western bay shore opposite Tampa. By 2010, the Tampa Bay Area was home to over 4 million residents. As Tampa began to grow in the mid-1800s, roads across central Florida were still just rough trails and rail lines did not yet extend down the Florida peninsula, so the most convenient means of traveling to and from the area was by sea. By the late 19th century, however, the shallow nature of Tampa Bay made it impossible for large modern vessels with deeper drafts to reach

2650-592: The winter. The cooler months are also when warm-water outfalls from power plants bordering the bay draw one out of every six West Indian manatees , an endangered species, to the area. Tampa Bay was designated as an "estuary of national significance" by the United States Environmental Protection Agency in 1990. Two National Wildlife Refuges are located in Tampa Bay: Pinellas National Wildlife Refuge and

2703-564: Was appointed by the WPA as the First Librarian. To supply the library collection, the Women's Civic Club paid the transportation charges to borrow 50 books from the state and return them at regular intervals. As the collection was expanded it quickly outgrew the space. In 1946, Dr. Salem Baranoff, owner of the Safety Harbor Spa, purchased and donated two empty lots on 2nd St. N and 5th Ave N for

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2756-413: Was dominant in the area at the time of first contact with Europeans in the mid-1500s. The Tocobaga , who built their principal town near today's Safety Harbor in the northwest corner of Old Tampa Bay, are the most documented group from that era because they had the most interactions with Spanish explorers . However, there were many other coastal villages organized into various small chiefdoms all around

2809-649: Was still a freshwater lake. Evidence of human habitation from this early period has been found at the Harney Flats site, which is approximately 10 miles east of the current location of Tampa's downtown waterfront. The earliest evidence of human habitation directly on the shores of Tampa Bay comes from the Manasota culture , a variant of the Weeden Island culture , who lived in the area beginning around 5,000–6,000 years ago, after sea levels had risen to near modern levels and

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