Tampa, Florida Map 1947 City Plan - Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater

MacDonald Printing Co. of Tampa published this detailed mid-century map of the city in 1947, centered on Hillsborough Bay but extending to cover much of the surrounding Tampa Bay area under the promotional tagline "Florida's Convenient Center." The map uses a distinctive concentric-circle layout, spaced a mile apart out to a "six-mile circle" from downtown Tampa, with a separate inset detailing the downtown core itself. Its verso carries an index, descriptive text about the city, and a smaller state map of Florida, giving the sheet a dual function as both wall map and folding travel guide. MacDonald Printing's local Tampa origin situates the map firmly within the postwar boosterism common to Florida cities eager to capture the wave of veterans and retirees relocating south after World War II.

Tampa played a significant role in the war just concluded, with MacDill Air Force Base built for training operations and Drew Field serving as an auxiliary airfield before officially becoming Tampa International Airport in 1950. South of Euclid Avenue, the map shows a large open area named Macdiel Field, while the upscale South Tampa neighborhoods now known as Palma Ceia and Hyde Park appear under the names Parkland Estates and Golfview, a naming pattern that shifted slightly south and north respectively in the decades after this map was drawn. The verso's text on "Tampa's Neighbors" describes St. Petersburg, noted for its Gandy Bridge, and Clearwater, known for its beaches and modern hotels, situating Tampa within the wider Tampa Bay tourism economy. The map preserves a view of the city just before the rapid growth of the 1950s and 1960s reshaped it entirely.

A fitting gift for a Tampa Bay family with roots in the postwar boom years, or for a St. Petersburg or Clearwater transplant who wants a map connecting their city back to Tampa's wartime and immediate postwar history. Its concentric-circle layout and included Florida state inset make it a genuinely functional period travel document, not just a decorative city view. It's supplied unframed and available across our full range of sizes, from a small desk print to a large-format piece for a bigger wall.