Published: April 02, 2015

UT Renames Main Campus Street After Founder and First President

The section of North B Street in Tampa that originates and runs through the heart of the UT campus has been renamed in honor of UT’s founder and first president, Frederic H. Spaulding.

Officially named Frederic H. Spaulding Drive, the street begins near the entrance of campus at the intersection of West Kennedy Boulevard and UT University Drive, and runs briefly north and then west. The street crosses North Boulevard, and dead ends at the parking lot of the Naimoli Family Athletic and Intramural Complex.

The rest of North B Street, which resumes at North Newport Avenue and runs west to just past North Westshore Ave., will remain named as it is.

Frederic Spaulding founded Tampa Junior College in 1931 – in the midst of the Great Depression yet with the support of the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce Education Committee and former Tampa mayor R.E. L. Chancy – to provide higher education opportunities for young people in Tampa. Classes were held at Hillsborough High School, where Spaulding served as principal. In 1933 Spaulding resigned as principal to lead the newly formed University of Tampa in its new location in the then Tampa Bay Hotel, now known as Plant Hall.

“Clearly this name change is meant to acknowledge President Spaulding and recognize his foresight and hard work in creating The University of Tampa and leading it in its infancy,” said UT President Ron Vaughn. “Spaulding started this institution from nothing, during one of the worst economic periods of this country’s history. I believe he’d be impressed at what The University of Tampa has become.”

In 1936, American Economist Magazine described Spaulding as “intelligent and aggressive” and said that “if anyone can be credited with the Athena-like growth of the University, it is in its president, Frederick (sic) H. Spaulding.”

In his 1974 book, A University is Born, Spaulding recalls that “the University of Tampa had an important place to fill, and it will find growing opportunities in attracting local students as well as those from outside our area.” At nearly 8,000 students today, who hail from 50 states and 137 countries, Spaulding’s prophesy has certainly come true.

Spaulding also wrote that he envisioned The University of Tampa as “holding to the highest ideals academically and spiritually…free to work out a great future unencumbered, progressive, alert and endowed with a spirit of service applied in a practical and efficient manner.” Again, UT, with its 200 academic programs of study, $800 million annual economic impact and commitment to service learning, has held true to Spaulding’s vision.

Spaulding, a graduate of Bates College and Harvard University, served as UT’s president until 1936. He died in 1974 at the age of 81.