For phosphate mines located in Hillsborough County, the flood plain projections for 25 year floods and 100 year floods was very important. This flood plain map for Hillsborough County would have been useful in those projections. Produced in February 1992.

1882 Map of Hillsborough County showing location of Alafia River. Note, in particular, the prominent marking of Peru. Map produced by the US Coast Survey of the US Land Office.

Eddie and Grace LaMay ran a carnival cookhouse in the 1920s. One fall day, according to the story told at the Showman's Museum, the couple stopped their trailer by the Alafia River, in the sleepy village of Gibsonton, for what they thought would be an hour's rest. Eddie cast a fishing line in the water and immediately caught several fish for dinner that night. Moments later a group of locals came walking toward the trailer and the couple figured this would be the end of their stay. But the townspeople greeted them warmly and ever since, Gibsonton has been a gathering place for local show people. Pictured is Eddie at his restaurant, Eddie's Hut, in 1939, located on what is today US 41, in Gibsonton, slightly north of the today's Gibsonton Road. Photo used with Permission of International Independent Showman's Museum.

1948 aerial view of Eddie's Hut in the center of the picture. Based on the location of the railroad track, Eddie's hut faced today's US 41, with the Giant's Fish Camp being just off the picture to the right, at the Alafia River. The intersecting road to the left of Eddie's Hut, is likely today's Gibsonton Drive toward I-75 and Riverview. Photo used with Permission of International Indepedent Showman's Museum.

Picture of Al Tomaini, wearing his Fire Chief's hat, with friends promoting Annual Fair. Photo used with Permission of International Indepedent Showman's Museum.

The Southern Hillsborough County Historical Connections Project is a collaborative endeavor between the SouthShore Campus of Hillsborough Community College (HCC) and esteemed community partners including the Ruskin History Project, Inc., the Firehouse Cultural Center, the Ruskin Women's Club, the Sun City History Center, and the International Independent Showmen's Museum. This ambitious undertaking aims to document and celebrate the diverse townships south of the Alafia River, weaving together their unique narratives into a tapestry of regional heritage.

This project was made possible through funding from the Community Foundation of Tampa Bay and the HCC Foundation.

For more information about this project, contact Roxanna Palmer, HCC SouthShore Librarian, at rpalmer15@hccfl.edu.

In 1923 or 1924, a mill was built at Willow by the McGowin-Foshee Lumber Company from Alabama. The company leased 54,000 acres of land for logging. James I. Robbins, Bruce Robbins and James A. Robbins bought it in 1926. The Robbinses also bought 40,000 acres of woodlands that ran south to where State Road 70 is today. The area is believed to have included a sawmill, turpentine still, a planer mill, a dry kiln, Robbins family home, general store (known as the commissary), 75 to 80 worker houses with garden plots, a house of prostitution located on the Little Manatee River, Snowden's filling station, a post office constructed in 1889, a railroad depot with a water tower and a church, school and juke joint located in the black section of town. There was a narrow gauge railroad which had 3 engines, a service car and about 30 logging cars equipped with no brakes. At its height, as much as 50,000 board feet a day was cut. There were around 250 workers. They were paid in scrips (small round tokens) that were to be spent in the commissary and were also accepted in the house of prostitution. Willow was separated into white and black sections. The white section was the south end and the black section was the north end. The black children went to the school in Willow and the white children went to school north in the town of Wimauma.

The town failed with the onset of the Great Depression as the price of lumber dropped and the business moved to Tampa in 1937. The business's steam engine from its sawmill is on display at the Robbins Manufacturing Co., located in Tampa on Nebraska Avenue.[1] A railroad single truss bridge crossing the Little Manatee River built in 1913 by the Seaboard Air Line Railroad Company remains, as do bare foundations of some of the old buildings.[1] The railroad bridge needs a significant amount of repair before it can be used again and some of the rails leading to it on the south side have been removed, so that trains can not currently travel across it. On the north side of the railroad bridge, at about Saffold Road, all of the rails have been removed from the rest of this route north to Durant. This abandonment occurred in 1986.

At Willow, there is a railroad spur that leads east off of the mainline to a Florida Power & Light Company plant. CSX Transportation provides current rail service to the plant.

As of 2009, the Florida Railroad Museum was expanding its facilities in Willow where restoration and repair work is conducted.[2] There is a new railroad depot now at Willow built by the Florida Railroad Museum. The Museum has put a fence around the depot and its maintenance facilities at Willow and has installed security cameras. On weekends, some of the museum’s volunteers who live in other distant towns will stay overnight in Willow in the restored passenger car sleepers on Friday and Saturday nights so they can work at the museum for the entire weekend.

Wikipedia contributors. (2017, February 27). Willow, Florida. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 17:21, December 5, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Willow,_Florida&oldid=767783473

Rusting Railroad Bridge over Little Manatee River, near Willow, FL. By Harvey Henkelmann, Attribution, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=482032

History of Fort Lonesome prepared by Hillsborugh County Historic Resources Survey Report