Ridgewood: a city pauper cemetery under King High School (6815 N. 56th St., Tampa, 1933–2019)

SUMMARYRidgewood: a city pauper cemetery under King High School (6815 N. 56th St., Tampa, 1933–2019) [Connections: Tampa Bay, Nov 5, 2026]

RECORDThe City of Tampa bought about 40 acres at 56th and Robles (Sligh) in 1933 for a pauper's cemetery; at least 230 people were buried there in 1942–1954; the land "changed hands several times," and the school district bought it in 1959 and built King High School (opened 1960). Documents showed "there is no record that bodies were ever removed" (WTSP). GeoView's GPR survey in October 2019 found 145 graves three to five feet deep; as many as 77 may be infants or small children. Superintendent Jeff Eakins: "We believe we have found Ridgewood cemetery." The state task force report gives 250–268 recorded burials and says the city sold the land to investors and later the school district. Board chair Tamara Shamburger: "another black cemetery has just been paved over."

PATTERNThe government that buried the poor sold their ground and then built a school on it

LENS (WW9)Our children went to school on top of our infants' graves

OPENNames of the buyers between 1954 and 1959; full burial register

SOURCEWUSF, Nov. 20, 2019; WTSP timeline; Florida Task Force on Abandoned African-American Cemeteries, Final Report (2021).