Del Donne Road In The 1950's

Photos Are At The Bottom Of Page

Interstate 4 was built in the late 50's / early 60's. The route for the 4 lane highway started in Tampa & went to the East Coast of the state. It was built on the north side of Plant City, and the route took it through a lot of woods and farm land. On it's why to State Road 39 it cut through Franklin Street a small dirt road that myself and all the neighborhood kids used to walk to Woodrow Wilson School.  When it got to Highway 39 at the railroad tracks it wiped out Del Donne Road, a small country road that we rode our bicycles on. Del Donne started at the Seaboard Coast Line RR tracks at State Road 39 and went east toward Lakeland. These photos show a little bit of what this rural  area looked like before the highway I-4 came through here. I have been wanting to do this for a long time, and it took me to much time to put together. I hope that I didn't make any mistakes, however if you should find any thing that doesn't look right, please let me know.   Ferris S. Waller

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The last photo shows I-4 in 1960 when it had opened.
Take notice how small Memorial Park Cemetery was.
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Aerial view of Interstate 4 - Hillsborough County, Florida. ca 1960. Black & white photograph, 8 x 10 in. State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory. https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/38486