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Dekle Avenue, a short, residential street that cuts diagonally through Historic Hyde Park, commemorates a man who helped develop the neighborhood.
Lee Dekle arrived in Tampa in his early 20s in 1889 to work as a carpentry foreman on the Tampa Bay Hotel project. A few years later he partnered with W.B. Gray and opened a general merchandise store on the 1300 block of Seventh Avenue in Ybor City.
Dekle would later partner with another Tampa pioneer, businessman Matthew Jetton, to form the Jetton-Dekle Lumber Company. The two were among the leading developers in Hyde Park's westward expansion. Jetton Avenue is steps away from Dekle Avenue.
Dekle founded the Dekle Investment Company and was a member of the Elks Lodge. He served on the City Council from 1900 to 1902.
He died at age 67 in 1933, leaving behind his wife, two sisters and a brother.
Source: Tampa Bay History Center, Tampa-Hillsborough Public Library, City of Tampa.
Photo courtesy of Tampa Bay History Center.