Florida Bible Institute bought the old Country Club Clubhouse in the late 1930s from the city for back taxes and remains a cherished part of Florida College. Florida College is now a private liberal arts college (founded in 1946) and occupies some of the community’s oldest buildings, including the Temple Terrace Country Club, which is now Sutton Hall. Billy Graham attended Florida Bible Institute, which owned the property now occupied by Florida College, in the late 1930s. In his autobiography he writes that he received his calling “on the 18th green of the Temple Terrace Golf and Country Club”. A Billy Graham Memorial Park is on the east side of the 18th green on the river.

Rejuvenation and redevelopment

Temple Terrace rebirth took place in 1984–1987 with the appointment of Thomas C. Mortenson as the City’s Building and Zoning Director and 1st Community Development Director [1]. Mortenson, with the assistance of City Engineer Paul Tomasino, and City Attorney Ted Taub, were responsible for the annexation of Telecom Park and numerous areas adjacent to the city, thereby tripling the tax base and doubling the size of the city. Creating a favorable development environment and working with the Mayor and City Council, the trio worked to attract new businesses, shopping centers, as well as redevelopment of existing business areas and vastly expanded housing in the community. Numerous new subdivisions were created during this period giving the city a firm tax base and identity that made Temple Terrace a desirable safe place for raising families, conducting business and environmentally sound community [2].

Temple Terrace is currently in the process of redeveloping 50 acres (200,000 m²) (the southeast quadrant) of its 1960s-era downtown. The goal of the city is to build a mixed-use, medium-density, pedestrian-oriented downtown.

The city hired noted town planner Torti Gallas + Partners in 2004 to create a New Urbanist master plan and redevelopment code for the entire 225-acre (0.91 km²) downtown area (four quadrants of 56th Street and Busch Boulevard), all with citizen input. The city also initiated a form-based code for its downtown, created a façade-improvement grant program, implemented a multi-modal transportation model to encourage alternatives to the automobile, and began revitalizing 56th Street with entry towers, landscaping, street furniture, placing utilities underground, and improved lighting.

The site of the new downtown area is the site of the downtown area that was originally planned in the 1920s but never built because of the Great Depression. Many of the planning concepts and architecture of the redevelopment area are based on the original plan and Temple Terrace’s unique 1920s historic Mediterranean Revival architecture.

Neighbors

Many of Temple Terrace’s residents teach or work at the nearby University of South Florida, and the close-knit community has strong ties to that institution. (The USF campus was also part of Mrs. Palmer’s original 19,000-acre (77 km²) ranch.)

Eureka Springs Park, located to the east of Temple Terrace, is Hillsborough County’s only botanical garden. The 31-acre (130,000 m²) park was started by Russian immigrant and amateur horticulturalist Albert Greenberg, who donated his park to the county in 1967. Poet Robert Frost and other famous personalities made it a point to visit Greenberg in the years prior to World War II.

The Museum of Science & Industry, commonly called MOSI, is located in Tampa near the Temple Terrace city line.

Sitting just one mile to the west of Temple Terrace is Busch Gardens Tampa.

Geography

Temple Terrace is located in north-central Hillsborough County at 28°2′30″N 82°22′57″W (28.041546, -82.382519).^[6] The city is bounded by Tampa to the west and north, Del Rio to the south, and rural Hillsborough County, near Interstate 75, to the east.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 7.1 square miles (18.4 km²), of which 6.8 square miles (17.7 km²) are land and 0.3 square miles (0.7 km²), or 3.70%, are water.^[5] The Hillsborough River flows through the eastern and southern parts of the city and forms some of its southern boundary.

Demographics

As of the census of 2010,^[8] there were 24,541 people living in the city. The racial makeup of the city was 68.04% White, 19.53% Black, 0.07% Native American, 5.45% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 3.30% from other races, and 3.17% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 14.66% of the population.

Per city data, 90.5% of the population has a high school degree or higher. 43.5% of the population has a bachelor’s degree or higher. 17.3% of the population has a graduate or professional degree. These are the highest education percentages of any municipality in Florida.

There were 8,671 households, out of which 27.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.9% were married couples living together, 11.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.3% were non-families. 28.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.36 and the average family size was 2.95.

In the city, the population was spread out, with 22.2% under the age of 18, 12.4% from 18 to 24, 29.9% from 25 to 44, 23.5% from 45 to 64, and 11.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females, there were 91.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.2 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $44,508, and the median income for a family was $56,809. Males had a median income of $38,384 versus $32,107 for females. The per capita income for the city was $26,515. About 5.4% of families and 7.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5.8% of those under age 18 and 8.9% of those age 65 or over.

Notable people from Temple Terrace Florida

• Pam Bondi, 37th Florida Attorney General
• Sammy Ellis, professional baseball pitcher
• Cody Fowler, prominent Florida attorney and former President of the American Bar Association
• Napoleon Hill, motivational author and speaker
• Peter Palmer, actor
• Colonel Tom Parker, Elvis Presley’s manager
• Robin Roberts, Hall of Fame baseball pitcher (Philadelphia Phillies)