Emma Quintilla Geer Bruton | |
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 Bruton in 1963 | |
| Born | December 16, 1907 Walton, Kentucky |
| Died | January 4, 1989 (aged 81) Plant City, Florida |
Emma Quintilla Geer Bruton (1907-1989) was a philanthropist, author, library advocate, the namesake for the Bruton Memorial Library in Plant City, Florida, as well as that for Bruton-Geer Hall at the University of Florida Levin College of Law in Gainesville, Florida.
Geer was born in Walton, Kentucky, and moved to Florida in 1923. She graduated from Plant City High School as valedictorian in 1926 and attended Tampa Business College and Brewster Vocational School. [1] She married James Bruton Jr. in Tampa, Florida, in 1932. He worked as a county judge for Hillsborough County. [2] The two of them purchased 50 acres of land northwest of Plant City, Florida, and named it Audubon Acres. There they created a peaceful bird and wildlife sanctuary. Bruton was president of Woman's Club of Plant City, and when Interstate 4 was built through the middle of Audubon Acres, she turned her attentions to library advocacy. [1]
As chairman of the Plant City's Woman's Club, Bruton started the Plant City library, and then went on to develop the countywide library in Hillsborough County. [3] [2] She set up the county's first library board and served as committee's chairman on that board for 12 years. The Tampa library was built in 1960 during her tenure, as well as many satellite branches, including Ruskin, Brandon and Ybor City. Prior to 1960, Tampa's only library was a 2000 volume collection in a former house to serve a city of over 100,000 people. [4] Bruton served on the Florida State Library Board from 1961 to 1969 and as the board's chairman in 1961 and 1962. [5] For her work with library advocacy she received the Book of the Month Club's Dorothy Canfield Fisher Library award for Florida on behalf of the Plant City Public Library in 1963. [6] [7]
Bruton was a founder of the East Hillsborough Historical Society, which maintains the Quintilla Geer Bruton Archives Center. [8] The Plant City Public Library was named the Quintilla Geer Bruton Memorial Library between 1989 and 1994 when the name was changed to the Bruton Memorial Library to encompass the contributions of both her and her husband. [9] She and her husband gave $1.13 million to the University of Florida in 1982 after selling Audubon Acres, on which I-4 was eventually built. [10] [11] Bruton-Geer Hall at the Levin College of Law, completed in 1984, is named in honor of her and her husband. She also was a well-noted local author in Plant City, FL. Mrs. Geer co-authored the book Plant City: Its Origin and History. Her other works, including many papers, are currently held at the Special Collections Department at the University of South Florida. [12]
Hillsborough County is a county located in the west-central portion of the U.S. state of Florida. In the 2020 census, the population was 1,459,762, making it the fourth-most populous county in Florida and the most populous county outside the Miami metropolitan area. A 2021 estimate has the population of Hillsborough County at 1,512,070 people with a yearly growth rate of 1.34%, which itself is greater than the populations of 12 states according to their 2019 population estimates. Its county seat and largest city is Tampa. Hillsborough County is part of the Tampa–St. Petersburg–Clearwater Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Brandon is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Hillsborough County, Florida, United States. It is part of the Tampa–St. Petersburg–Clearwater Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 114,626 at the 2020 census, up from 103,483 at the 2010 census.
Plant City is an incorporated city in Hillsborough County, Florida, United States, approximately midway between Brandon and Lakeland along Interstate 4. It is part of the Tampa Bay area. The population was 39,764 at the 2020 census.
Temple Terrace is a city in northeastern Hillsborough County, Florida, United States, adjacent to Tampa. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 26,690. It is the third and smallest incorporated municipality in Hillsborough County, after Tampa and Plant City. Incorporated in 1925, the community is known for its rolling landscape, bucolic Hillsborough River views, and sand live oak trees; it is a Tree City USA. Originally planned in the 1920s as a Mediterranean-Revival golf course community, it is one of the first such communities in the United States. It is part of the Tampa–St. Petersburg–Clearwater Metropolitan Statistical Area, more commonly known as the Tampa Bay area.
The Hillsborough River is a river located in the state of Florida in the United States. It arises in the Green Swamp near the juncture of Hillsborough, Pasco and Polk counties, and flows 60 miles (97 km) through Pasco and Hillsborough Counties to an outlet in the city of Tampa on Hillsborough Bay. It includes 4 nature trails extending for over 7 miles (11 km), making it popular among hikers. The name Hillsborough River first appeared on a British map in 1769. At the time, the Earl of Hillsborough was the British Secretary of State for the Colonies, and thus controlled the pensions of the surveyors working in the American colonies, which included East Florida.
Hillsborough High School is a public high school located at 5000 N. Central Ave, in the heart of the historic Seminole Heights neighborhood, in Tampa, Florida. Hillsborough High is the oldest public high school in Hillsborough County, Florida.
The University of Florida Fredric G. Levin College of Law is the law school of the University of Florida located in Gainesville, Florida. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest operating public law school in Florida and second oldest overall in the state.
Hillsborough County Public Schools (HCPS) is a school district that runs the public school system of Hillsborough County in west central Florida and is headquartered in Tampa, Florida, United States. It is frequently referred to as the School District of Hillsborough County (SDHC).
The Henry B. Plant Museum is located in the south wing of Plant Hall on the University of Tampa's campus, located at 401 West Kennedy Boulevard in Tampa, Florida. Plant Hall was originally built by Henry B. Plant as the Tampa Bay Hotel; a 511-room resort-style hotel that opened on February 5, 1891, near the terminus of the Plant System rail line, also forged and owned by Plant. The Plant Museum's exhibits focus on historical Gilded Age tourism in the Tampa Bay area of Florida, the elite lifestyle of the hotel's guests, and the Tampa Bay Hotel's use during the Spanish–American War. As such, the Plant Museum is set up in the Historic House Museum style. Exhibits display artifacts in a manner that reflects the original placement and usage within the related historic building.
Temple Crest is a neighborhood and district located northeast of Tampa, Florida. The population was 8,621 at the 2000 census.
Tampa Bay History Center is a history museum in Tampa, Florida, United States. It is a Smithsonian Affiliate and has been accredited by the American Alliance of Museums since 2015. Exhibits include coverage of the Tampa Bay area's first native inhabitants, Spanish conquistadors, and historical figures who shaped the area's history, as well as a reproduction of a 1920s cigar store. The museum is on the waterfront at 801 Water Street in Tampa's Channelside District. It opened on January 17, 2009. The History Center building is 60,000 square feet (5,600 m2) with 25,000 square feet (2,300 m2) of exhibit space.
Blanche Mae Armwood (1890–1939), educator, activist and the first African-American woman in the state of Florida to graduate from an accredited law school. Armwood was also the first Executive Secretary of the Tampa Urban League and a founder of five Household Industrial Arts Schools for African-American women in five different states. Armwood High School in Seffner, Florida is named in her honor.
The Quintilla Geer Bruton Memorial Library is the public library of Plant City, Florida.
The Tampa–Hillsborough County Public Library System (THPL) is a public library system based in Hillsborough County, Florida. THPL is part of two larger library networks, the Tampa Bay Library Consortium, and the Hillsborough County Public Library Cooperative which includes Temple Terrace Public Library in Temple Terrace, Florida, and Bruton Memorial Library in Plant City, Florida. There are 33 branches of the Hillsborough County Public Library Cooperative. Services provided by the THPL include internet access, public meeting room spaces, interlibrary loans, a Bookmobile, a Cybermobile for Spanish speakers, technology classes, adult literacy programs, and downloadable eBooks. Drive-thru windows for returns and hold pick-ups are located at the Jimmie B. Keel and the Jan Kaminis Platt Regional Libraries. In 2017, THPL introduced the new HAAL Pass, which gives access to certain library resources to all students in the Hillsborough County Public Schools System. Students use their student ID number to use different online databases, borrow up to three physical items and read eBooks. The Tampa–Hillsborough County Public Library System is also a part of Hillsborough County government. On January 1, 2018, the library cooperative became one of the largest in the country to go fine free. Overdue fees for borrowed materials were eliminated with the implementation of the "Just Bring It Back" initiative. In 2019 the cooperative received the FLA Library of the Year Award. Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library was recognized for its community focused initiatives as it "reorganized its staffing model and eliminated overdue fines, yielding $1 million in savings while increasing access to library resources and expanding opportunities for community engagement through unique, scalable programs."
Carolyn Heller was a Florida painter and decorative artist. She painted primarily in the realm of decorative arts, using bright colors and often tropical motifs.
Colleen Lunsford Bevis (1916–2013) was a prominent children's advocate in Hillsborough County, Florida, US. She was active for six decades and instrumental in founding the Children's Board of Hillsboough County. She became Florida state president of the Parent Teachers Association.
The Jan Kaminis Platt Regional Library is part of the Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System (THPL), as well as a member of the Hillsborough County Public Library Cooperative (HCPLC). The library is a 25,000 sq. ft. facility located at 3910 S. Manhattan Ave. in Tampa, Florida. The library provides books, magazines, DVDs, music, and internet access, as well as programs and activities, and a drive-thru window for check out and return of materials. In December 2018 the library underwent an extensive renovation which enclosed the children's area and expanded the number of meeting and study rooms to eight.
Helen Virginia Stelle was the first director of the Tampa Free Library and one of the founders of the Florida Library Association.
Ashley Brooke Moody is an American attorney and politician serving as the Florida attorney general since January 2019. Moody previously served as an assistant U.S. attorney and a circuit court judge in Hillsborough County.
Emily Katherine Bell Tippetts was an American businesswoman and clubwoman based in St. Petersburg, Florida. She was one of the first women to run for a seat in the Florida legislature, in 1922. As the founder and president of the St. Petersburg chapter of the National Audubon Society for over 30 years, and in various statewide and national leadership positions with women's clubs, Tippetts helped establish protective legislation and bird sanctuaries throughout Florida.
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