Ybor City, Florida: Roosevelt's Rough Riders Rode By Here

Before Lt. Col. Theodore Roosevelt and the 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry charged up Kettle and San Juan Hills in Cuba, they spent much of June 1898 in Tampa, Florida, awaiting deployment. The Rough Riders, as they were called, were encamped in Tampa's Ybor City neighborhood, where at the intersection of 7th Ave. and 22nd Street they watered their mounts. A historic marker nearby recounts this, and notes that Lt. Col. Roosevelt often rode by the site on his horse, Texas, followed by his dog, Cuba. After the Rough Riders left Tampa, TR made his mark in the Spanish-American War, one of numerous stepping stones on his path to the White House.