Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park is an public park located along the Hillsborough river in

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in American and Canadian English to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ( ...

Tampa Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

that opened in its current configuration in 2010. It is adjacent to the

Tampa Riverwalk The Tampa Riverwalk is a open space and pedestrian trail along the Hillsborough River in Tampa, Florida. The Riverwalk extends along most of the downtown Tampa waterfront from the Channelside District on the eastern terminus to the mouth of ...

Florida Museum of Photographic Arts The Florida Museum of Photographic Arts (FMoPA) is a museum dedicated to exhibiting important photographic art as central to contemporary life and culture. FMoPA also enriches the community by operating outreach programs to educate children and a ...

Tampa Museum of Art The Tampa Museum of Art is located in Downtown Tampa, downtown Tampa, Florida. It exhibits modern and contemporary art, as well as Art in Ancient Greece, Greek, Ancient Rome, Roman, and Etruscan civilization, Etruscan antiquities. The museum open ...

, Glazer Children's Museum, and Rivergate Tower. The park overlooks the

University of Tampa The University of Tampa (UTampa, UT or Tampa U) is a private university in Tampa, Florida. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. UTampa offers more than 200 programs of study, including 19 master's degrees and a br ...

's Plant Hall, which is directly across the river. The park is in an area known as the Waterfront Arts District.

Description

Much of Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park consists of an open grassy lawn that slopes gently towards the river in a series of wide terraces. Around this greenspace are several fountains, a large playground, a public boat dock, a dog park, several shaded pavilions, an

amphitheater An amphitheatre ( U.S. English: amphitheater) is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ('), from ('), meaning "on both sides" or "around" and ('), meaning "place for vie ...

, various sculptures, a garden area designed by

Dan Kiley Daniel Urban Kiley (2 September 1912 – 21 February 2004) was an American landscape architect, who worked in the style of modern architecture. Kiley designed over one-thousand landscape projects including Gateway Arch National Park in St. Louis ...

, and a small concession kiosk with restrooms. The park is bordered by the Tampa Museum of Art and the Glazer Children's Museum on the north, Ashley Drive on the east, and the Rivergate Tower and parking garage to the south. On the west side of the park is the Hillsborough River and the

, a 2.4 mile long walkway which connects Curtis Hixon Park to several attractions and facilities (including the

Tampa Convention Center The Tampa Convention Center is a mid-sized convention center located in downtown Tampa, Florida at the mouth of the Hillsborough River. It has both waterfront views of Tampa Bay and views of the city's skyline. Harbour Island is across the epo ...

and the

Straz Center for the Performing Arts The Straz Center for the Performing Arts is a performing arts venue in Tampa, Florida, United States. It opened in July 1987 as the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, and was renamed in 2009. The Straz Center is owned by the City of Tampa and op ...

), many hotels and restaurants, and a series of smaller parks along Tampa's downtown waterfront. Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park regularly hosts a wide variety of events large and small, including concerts and music festivals, food festivals, arts and crafts shows, evening yoga classes, temporary ice skating, and many other activities. Though relatively new, the public space has become a popular local destination and has been called "Tampa's town square".

History

Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park is located adjacent to the former site of

Curtis Hixon Hall Curtis Hixon Hall was an indoor sports arena, convention center, concert venue, and special events center which was located at 600 Ashley Drive along the Hillsborough River in downtown Tampa, Florida. It opened in 1965, and was the primary con ...

, Tampa's first convention center and general purpose indoor arena which was built in 1965. Both the park and the former building were named for Curtis Hixon, a

mayor of Tampa The Mayor is the highest elected official in Tampa, Florida. Since its incorporation in 1856, the town has had 59 mayors. Tampa had no mayor from 1862 until 1866, during which time the city government was temporarily suspended during and immediat ...

who died while in office in 1956. After Curtis Hixon Hall was made obsolete by newer facilities and demolished in 1993, the original Curtis Hixon Park was built on the site. This small park was not widely utilized due to a poor connection to both the river and the rest of downtown, few amenities, and a lack of other things to do in downtown Tampa during evenings and weekends. By the early 2000s, Tampa's long-planned Riverwalk project began taking shape. The city razed the old Tampa Museum of Art building and its adjoining parking garage, which had hemmed in Curtis Hixon Park on the south and limited public access to the riverfront. A new art museum building plus the Glazer Children's Museum were constructed on the north side of the park, while the old park was greatly expanded to the south and was completely reconfigured by

landscape architect A landscape architect is a person who is educated in the field of landscape architecture. The practice of landscape architecture includes: site analysis, site inventory, site planning, land planning, planting design, grading, storm water manage ...

Thomas Balsley Thomas Balsley (born 1943), FASLA, is the founder and principal designer of Thomas Balsley Associates, a New York City-based design firm best known for its fusion of landscape and urbanism in public parks and plazas. Balsley's firm has been activ ...

to allow for open views from Ashley Boulevard across to the Hillsborough River and the University of Tampa beyond. The park opened in its current configuration in 2010.

References

External links

{{Commons category, Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park
Map of Riverwalk
Parks in Tampa, Florida Landmarks in Tampa, Florida 2010 establishments in Florida Buildings and structures in Tampa, Florida