Past Exhibits

The Sportin' Life

During the last half of the 19th century, interest in physical fitness and athletic competitions was on the rise in America. People living in urban and rural regions, across all social classes and from all backgrounds spent a portion of their leisure time engaged in sporting activities. Grand resort hotels offered America’s leisure class an array of socially acceptable entertainments of varying levels of vigor while away from home.  The Sportin’ Life dives into the sporting lifestyle of the upper class at America’s grand resorts from the 1880s through the 1930s. 

Text box reading: sunshine, flowers, music, tennis, boating, fishing, hunting, motoring, driving and riding. 100 miles of dustless shell roads. no storms or fog on the west coast. Tampa Bay Hotel advertisement circa 1909


America’s prominent resorts, nestled amid mountains or overlooking picturesque bodies of water, provided many opportunities for the pursuit of pleasure and fitness outdoors. The opulent accommodations and elaborate facilities at destinations such as the Tampa Bay Hotel, The Breakers Hotel, The Grand Hotel, The Greenbrier, Hotel del Coronado or Mount Washington Hotel were designed to attract and entertain the leisure class
 

Cars in procession in front of large grand hotel, open field rolling hills and mountain range in background.                                           
Mount Washington Hotel, Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, circa 1900. Courtesy of Library of Congress.
 

Sprawling grounds accommodated bicycling, croquet, horseshoes, hunting and fishing, racing of various types, driving, walking, archery, horseback riding, table tennis, shuffleboard and bowling. Boating and bathing were popular pastimes at waterfront hotels. Elegant spa facilities included natatoriums for indoor swimming. For those who enjoyed competition, neatly manicured landscapes surrounded tournament-worthy golf links and lawn tennis courts. In Florida, Henry Plant and Henry Flagler built baseball diamonds to host exhibition games at the Tampa Bay Hotel, The Royal Poinciana Hotel and The Breakers Hotel. Travel brochures and advertisements touted the variety of sporting activities and the unparalleled quality of the facilities.

Newspaper clipping with image of Tampa Bay Hotel reads: Fireproof Tampa Bay Hotel, Tampa Florida a magnificent Moorish palace, capacity 500 guests, recently remodeled and renovated throughout, New nine-hole golf course, tennis, motorboating, fishing, bathing, automobiling, baseball. The Chicago Cubs have winter training quarters in grounds; will play match games in Fe. And March with Philadelphia Athletics and St. Louis Browns. Four days’ carnival in Feb., rivaling New Orleans Mardis Gras and St Louis Veiled Prophets. Northern servants. Grounds consist of 42 acres of luxuriant tropical shrubbery and flowers, beautiful palm fringed walks, fountains and shady nooks, facing on the Hillsborough river, where boating and fishing are unexcelled. Over a hundred miles of well paved auto boulevards, creating beautiful drives through golden fruit-laden orange groves, over picturesque streams, through tropical jungles and piney woods. All trains and boats are met by auto-bus. Special rates for families and long stays. Write for a booklet and rates to W.F, Adams, Manager. Spend a few days at the Manavista Hotel on the Manatee river.
Tampa Bay Hotel advertisement, Life magazine, 1913.


Resorts responded to the public’s growing interest in competitive sports by organizing tournaments or exhibition games of tennis, golf, racing of all types or baseball. Some hotels fielded baseball teams comprised of employees that played against local teams and hosted professional ball teams for spring training.


Batting practice on baseball diamond on Plant Field
Washington Senators spring training at Plant Field, Tampa, 1923. Courtesy of Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System​.
 

The Tampa Bay Hotel hosted the Chicago Cubs in 1913 and the Washington Senators for spring training in the 1920s. During the 1922-23 season, Kenesaw Mountain Landis and five future baseball hall-of-famers were among the players who stayed at the Tampa Bay Hotel.

 

Underwritten By

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Thanks to

Archive Farms

Wayne Ayers

Belleview Inn archives/Joey Vars

Shelley Copeland

Kathy Durdin

Elliott Museum

Kaylee Farrell

Museum of Florida History, Tallahassee

Florida State Archives

Jo Hopper

Hotel del Coronado

International Tennis Hall of Fame

La France Vintage Clothiers

Library of Congress

John Osterweil

PGA Tour Entertainment

Amy Sakovich

Sarasota County Historical Resources

Earl A. Smith, M.D.

Mike Stevens

St. Petersburg Museum of History

St. Petersburg Shuffleboard Club

Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System

Tampa Yacht & Country Club

The Greenbrier

Eldon and Kenton Trubee

Mrs. James Turner, née Joan Holtsinger

World Golf Hall of Fame & Museum