Town ‘n’ Country is
located West on downtown Tampa. Earliest land sales records show
a purchase of 5,000 acres sold by the Exchange National Bank for
$5 dollars per acre to a Mr. Hanley. Mr. Hanley sold 500 acres
in the 1940’s to D. Wayne Webb for $100 dollars per acre. The
Town ‘n’ Country Plaza now stands where Mr. Webb use to operated
a dairy farm.
In 1957 three
energetic New York builders came to the Town ‘n’ Country and saw
an opportunity. LaMonte-Shimberg negotiated with Mr. Webb to pay
$1,500 per acre based on a series of options over a 10 year
period. They started their development on 100 acres south of
Hillsborough Ave and worked north on the remaining 400 acres
including 3,500 feet of property along the north and south sides
of Hillsborough Ave which was developed commercially. The
developers donated 5 sites for schools in 1961 and, sold their
sewer system to Hillsborough County in 1976.
By 1983, the
original developers had completed 6,000 townhouses, villas and,
single family homes on 2,000 acres. Presently the term Town ‘n’
Country commonly refers to a much larger area than the 2,000
acres stretching from south of Hillsbourgh Ave to north of
Waters Ave including several waterfront communities.
