Sumter L. Lowry helped build what is now Tampa General Hospital. His legacy includes goverment and other infrastructure.
By MICHAEL CANNING
Published May 30, 2003
Long before the park, the zoo and the neighborhoods were named after Sumter L. Lowry, he built his namesake house in South Tampa.
Lowry was born in York, S.C., in 1861, the son of a Confederate Army surgeon. He studied pharmacology at South Carolina Medical School College and worked as a druggist before moving to Palatka in 1888. He operated a pharmacy there before settling in Tampa five years later.
Upon arrival Lowry switched jobs, establishing an insurance agency and later becoming a director for the Gulf Life Insurance Co. In 1895 he built his home, an attractive clapboard house with Queen Anne elements, a short walk from the Hillsborough Bay in Hyde Park North.
He wasted little time becoming involved in local civic groups, organizing and presiding over the Commission Government Club of Tampa. When the city adopted the commission form of government, Lowry was among the first elected.
During his six years on the commission, Lowry was instrumental in the purchase and installation of city waterworks and port improvements. He helped build the Municipal Hospital (now Tampa General), rehabilitate the Tampa Bay Hotel (now University of Tampa) and erect five bridges.
Lowry also raised funds to build downtown's St. Andrew's Episcopal Church and was a founder of St. John's Episcopal Church in Old Hyde Park.
In 1925, Lowry Park on Sligh Avenue was named after Lowry in honor of his efforts in helping the city buy the land in 1918.
Lowry died in 1934 at age 75. Tampa's zoo, which began as an animal shelter in Plant Park in 1937, moved to the current site in the 1950s and became Lowry Park Zoo.
The city also named two neighborhoods after Lowry - Lowry Park and Lowry Park North.
Today, the Lowry House is home to law offices at 333 S Plant Ave.
