The Courtney Campbell was the Davis Causeway. It opened in 1934, and Davis lived above the tollhouse.
By MICHAEL CANNING
Published May 2, 2003
The small beach on the east side of the Courtney Campbell Parkway is one of the few places in Tampa where you can swim, picnic and play in the sand. A modest beach by most standards, it serves as a consolation, of sorts, for the man who built the causeway next to it.
Ben T. Davis was born in 1869 in Round Rock, Texas, and descended from a prominent line of Davises. He traced direct lineage to Confederate President Jefferson Davis and George T. Davis, attorney general for the Confederate States. His grandfather grafted the Ben Davis apple in Kentucky.
Davis was the first engineering graduate from the University of New Mexico. He went on to build the first railroads in Mexico and co-developed the upscale Chapultepec Heights subdivision in Mexico City. Davis also supervised the construction of wharves in the Port of Tampico.
Davis moved to Tampa in 1926. At that time, the Gandy Bridge was the only span between Tampa and St. Petersburg over Old Tampa Bay. Davis saw opportunity in providing a toll road between Tampa and Clearwater that would give motorists a faster way to the beaches of Pinellas County.
He began the causeway project in 1927, but work halted in 1928 because of the collapse of Florida's real estate market. The Great Depression caused further delays, but Davis managed to secure a $600,000 federal loan in 1932. With the help of investors, Davis kicked in another $300,000, and work resumed.
The 91/2-mile Davis Causeway opened on June 28, 1934, with a round-trip toll of 50 cents. Davis and his family moved into an apartment above the tollhouse on the Pinellas side of the causeway. In 1944, state and federal governments bought the causeway, along with the Gandy Bridge, and made it toll-free.
Davis and his family moved to Harlingen, Texas, where he developed a ranch. He died in 1946. A year later, the causeway was renamed the Courtney Campbell Parkway to honor the State Road Board member (and later member of U.S. Congress) who pushed for improvements and beautification projects on the causeway.
The city later dedicated the beach along the causeway to Davis.
- Source: Sunland Tribune, Tampa Bay History Center.
