Our family moved to Town `N Country in Tampa thirty four years ago in July, 1968.

I flew down from Atlanta in March to house-hunt. My husband Bob and I stayed at the Tahitian Inn on South Dale Mabry. Bob had been working in Tampa for a month. We drove and drove, it seemed forever, up Dale Mabry and onto two-lane Hillsborough Avenue. We had been told about a brand new area with lovely homes. We chose the tri-level model built by Lamont-Shimberg in the last section of the Morgan Woods area of Town 'N Country. The salesman told us that there would be a large flood control canal on the north side of Fountain Avenue; so we chose that side of the street.

In July, 1 flew down with my two younger daughters, Tricia and Anne, to see my home for the first time. I walked into the house and looked out at the sandy lot behind us, which had only one little tree. You could see cows in the distance. I had just left a house on a hill with a forest of trees behind it. What a change!

We immediately started to unpack. My husband, oldest daughter, Diane, and mother-in-law, Anna, had come down two weeks earlier, but had only unpacked the essentials-so that I could place things where I wanted, they said. I had to stay in Atlanta for the two weeks because Tricia, our middle daughter, had suddenly become ill the night before we were to leave Atlanta and had emergency surgery.

Curtains were one of first items that we needed. I read in the newspaper that Sears was having a sale and its address was on Hillsborough. So I packed the girls in the little Simca and went on a mission. I had no idea that Hillsborough Avenue extended across the county and that Sears was at Hillsborough and 22nd Street. Hillsborough was so narrow, that I felt we would be sideswiped at any moment. I did find curtain rods.

School started in a month. My two oldest daughters were enrolled in the brand new Morgan Woods Elementary School. Hanley Road had just opened to the north beyond the bridge, but the road to the school was still a shell path. There was nothing but Florida brush where Morgan Woods Greentree and Twelve Oaks now stand.

I became a Girl Scout Leader for a year or so and then became involved in the Morgan Woods PTA. The next thing you knew, Woodbridge Elementary was built, and my youngest daughter had to transfer there in the second grade. I was so active at the time that I eventually was the PTA president for each of the schools. The new school had come about in three years because of the phenomenal growth of the new Woodbridge area, north of us, across the new canal.

Our three daughters went to Morgan Woods, Woodbridge, Webb Jr. High, and Leto High, with double sessions all the way through high school. They enjoyed school and did well. I since became a Hillsborough County school teacher and recently retired after 21 years of teaching. My experiences at Morgan Woods with Pearl Hojnacki at the helm were the main reason that I went into teaching. My family thinks that our school system is still sound - we just have too many new students!

The canal, or Channel G, was finally started. The water from underground filled it as fast as it was dug. My husband and our daughter, Tricia, actually jumped in and swam around in the muddy water! I used the garden hose to clean them up. (We since installed a pool for swimming.)

The entrance to Woodbridge on Webb Road was denoted by little "bridges" covering the walkway. The county has just recently removed these because of age, but plans to rebuild them, along with a new road bridge on Webb soon. Also, the Town `n Country Greenway now extends from Webb Road to the Shimberg Little League baseball complex, with expansion plans for 2003 to extend to George Road in the east and Sheldon road in the west.

The Greenway had a difficult beginning. Several years ago the county wanted to extend Sligh Avenue through Town 'N Country, right alongside Channel G. Spurred on by the Town `N country Civic Association, neighborhood meetings, petitions, and protests stopped this; and the county built the Greenway instead.

A later, more recent story is similar to the first one. A builder who owned the area on the north side of the channel from Webb Road to the Rocky Creek decided to build low cost homes there. The entire community was shocked, because it was generally understood (wrongly so) that the land was county-owned. Again, after many meetings, petitions, and protests, the county bought the land and the greenway is to be extended. Again, the Town `N Country Homeowners' Civic Association was very much instrumental in this effort.

Our shopping area was originally just on Hillsborough. There was a Pantry Pride grocery at the corner of Memorial and Hillsborough, a Winn-Dixie at Hillsborough and Hanley, and the U-Save, where it still stands. Hillsborough Avenue was only two lanes for many years, with the widening still going on in the eastern part of the city just recently.

When we finally got a Publix on Hillsborough at what is now "Ross Plaza," I was elated. Now there are two of them. and the Ross store is where the original Publix was built. There are also two Kash and Karry markets close by.

We did enjoy the newly opened Westshore Mall, then the only enclosed mall on the west coast of Florida. Our new Citrus Park Mall is much closer and so convenient. However, it is just one among many malls on the west coast now.

Local entertainment included a one-screen theater where Ace Hardware now stands. I saw the original M*A*S*H movie there. We used to ride by the "Rocky Creek Tavern" on the corner of Hillsborough and Memorial and of course, we noticed the separate "bathroom" outside. (It did have a real toilet. You could see it from the street.) We were thrilled when they opened the MacDonald's on Hillsborough.

I sometimes miss seeing the cows in the fields behind us where the canal and Woodbridge are now. But I would not take anything for my view of my heavily treed lot and the open space behind the canal. I know that when the Greenway trail is extended it will even be better.

There is still country in the town!

Down Memory Lane...
From the Newsletter 2002
Town 'N Country Park Home Owners Civic Association, Inc