Rodney Kite Powell, Director of the Touchton Map Library

Tampa Bay History Center author - Rodney Kite-Powell

About Rodney Kite-Powell

Director, Touchton Map Library

Rodney Kite-Powell is the Director of the Touchton Map Library and Florida Center for Cartographic Education at the Tampa Bay History Center, where he joined the staff in 1995. He received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Florida and a Master of Arts from the University of South Florida—both in the subject of U.S. history. Born and raised in Tampa, Fla., he has written and lectured extensively on the history of Tampa, Hillsborough County, and Florida.

Kite-Powell is an officer with the Philip Lee Phillips Society of the Library of Congress, where he serves on the Academic Committee. In 2019, he was named the official county historian for Hillsborough County by the Board of County Commissioners. He is the author of three books, including History of Davis Islands: David P. Davis and the Story of a Landmark Tampa Neighborhood (2013), Palma Ceia Golf and Country Club: A Centennial Celebration (2016), and Tampa Bay’s Waterfront: Its History and Development, co-authored with Arthur Savage (2017).

Media Contact

Billy Somerville: (813) 675-8985
[email protected]

Articles by Rodney Kite-Powell

Tampa Bay History

The ships of Jose Gaspar

Many things distinguish pirates from typical brigands, highwaymen, or common thieves, but the main one–and the biggest–is their ship. Tampa’s Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla is no exception, as they …

Jan 21, 2024

Tampa Bay History

Gasparilla floats through the years

Colorful floats carrying bead-throwing pirates and a whole host of others have been a mainstay of Gasparilla for decades.

Jan 14, 2024

Exhibitions

History Center acquires extraordinary, rare map

The Tampa Bay History Center has recently acquired one of Florida’s oldest and most important maps.

Oct 30, 2023

Tampa Bay History

Tampa’s historic streetcars

During the last two decades of the 1880s, Tampa was clearly a forerunner for transportation developments in Florida. Through the efforts of the Board of Trade, Tampa had, by 1886, …

Aug 15, 2023

Tampa Bay History

Dobyville: One of Tampa’s forgotten Black neighborhoods

Some find it surprising that Tampa's White elite were not the only people to find a home in Hyde Park during the early years of the neighborhood. Many of Tampa's Black residents lived in the Dobyville section of the neighborhood.

Jun 06, 2023

Tampa Bay History

Black business district grew from the roots of segregation

Much has been written about the heyday of the Central Avenue business district, the main business and recreation center for Tampa’s African American community through the 1960s. The story of …

May 30, 2023

Tampa Bay History

Tampa’s overlooked boom-time neighborhood

Nestled among sprawling oaks and curved roads with names like Fairway, Fore, and Bogie lies an interesting neighborhood whose homes, judging by their general sizes and ages, belie the area’s …

May 26, 2023

Tampa Bay History

The rocky romance of D. P. Davis and Elizabeth Nelson

Of the dozens of stories perpetuated about Davis Islands developer David P. Davis, few are as salacious as the ones that surround his marriage, divorce, and remarriage to Elizabeth Nelson.

Apr 05, 2023

Tampa Bay History

Florida’s early American Indians

The two largest native groups were the Timucua and the Calusa. The Timucua lived in northern Florida and the Calusa in southern Florida.

Mar 31, 2023

Tampa Bay History

Tampa Bay: Body of water or regional identity?

Tampa or Tampa Bay. The actual name of a city or an invented regional moniker?

Mar 31, 2023