The West Tampa Library is part of the West Tampa National Historic District and is a City of Tampa Historic Structure. It is a historic link between the establishment of the City of West Tampa, the Cigar industry and the Latin and African-American culture of the community. On May 18, 1895 West Tampa incorporated with a population of nearly 3,000 people and became one of Tampa's earliest "suburban" towns. West Tampa's heyday was from 1900 to about 1920 when cigar factories flourished, and dozens of commercial structures were built in the town's commercial core centered at the intersection of Main and Howard.
