Gloria Jean Stories

06/19/2026

OTD June 19, 1883 the name Fortune Street first appeared on a map in Hillsborough County

Above is our AI reworking of the plain plat map (2nd photo) which can be found at the Tampa Bay History Center.

Fortune Street was named for the widow Fortune Taylor, an African American pioneer of Tampa, who onced owned the majority of the land on the map.

(Note: Where it says 'Madison Street' according to AI in the lower right is actually the continuation of crooked Harrison Street.)

06/19/2026

06/18/2026

✨🧡

Gloria Jean Royster
A Tampa Girl Talks History
Madame Fortune Dessert + HiFi Parlour | Brunch| Dinner
Tampa’s Black History Museum
Tampa Bay History Center
Tampa Downtown Partnership

06/18/2026

As of today, June 18, 2026, the Friends of Madame Taylor are declaring June 19th in the City of Tampa, Florida as Fortune Taylor Day now and forever more. Yes!

On June 19, 1883, former Confederate soldier, former Mayor of Tampa, and at that time merchant and developer Edward A. Clarke AKA E.A. Clarke filed his Plan of North Tampa with Hillsborough County, Florida. He was creating a new city. Twenty eight acres of the land in his plan was purchased for $252.00 from Mrs. Fortune Taylor, once enslaved and, along with her deceased husband Benjamin, among the first citrus farmers, black or white, in Tampa, Hillsborough County. 

At the heart of his plan for the City of North Tampa, Clarke created Fortune Street in Taylor's honor. This is the first known map on which Fortune Street appeared. Note the "Reserve of Fortune Taylor" after she sold the bulk of her 33 acres north of the town of Tampa. Note that her street runs by her reserve.  The City of North Tampa was incorporated in 1886 and was annexed into the expanding City of Tampa in 1887. Sections of East and West Fortune Street still exist today in Tampa's Downtown. 

Clarke's Plan/this subdivision is not the area we know today as North Tampa. His city was just north of the Town of Tampa. The area is part of today's north Downtown Tampa. Ten years later a bridge was completed over the Hillsborough River to connect the City of West Tampa to the City of Tampa. The Tampa side connected at Fortune Street and it became the Fortune Street Bridge. Today it is the Historic Fortune Taylor Bridge. 

On ♥️💛💚stroll over to Downtown's Fortune Street then walk north to Tampa's African American monument, the Historic Fortune Taylor Bridge named for freedwoman Fortune Taylor (1825-1906) AKA Madame Fortune Taylor. Then dine at her speakeasy Madame Fortune in the Ybor City Historic District. 🧡🧡

Tampa was built with Fortune.
Happy Fortune Taylor Day, June 19th!

Gloria Jean Royster
A Tampa Girl Talks History
Madame Fortune Dessert + HiFi Parlour | Brunch| Dinner

06/18/2026

Juneteenth is a story of freedom, but also a community, creativity, resistance, faith, resilience, activism, and joy. ❤️✊

When we teach our kids the full story, we help them understand not only what people endured, but how communities survived and built beautiful lives in the face of injustice.

✊ Comment JUNETEENTH for our complete guide with resources, scripts, and support for teaching kids about Juneteenth in age-appropriate ways.

06/16/2026

✨Happening Now:
Triumph: Tampa's Untold Chapter
of the Civil Rights Movement