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Praise For Not-So-Famous Tampa Women

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By GARY R. MORMINO

Tribune correspondent

Published: October 26, 2008

October is not Women's History Month, which is all the more reason to introduce readers to three underappreciated women and an inspiring 10-year-old girl who made history in Tampa.

The Girl Orator

One of the most anticipated days in Tampa history was February 24, 1895. Cuban immigrants in Ybor City and West Tampa, informed that the insurrection against Spain had begun, gathered in front of the O'Halloran cigar factory in West Tampa (on the site of today's Carnegie Library on Howard Avenue).

The site was as symbolic as the cause. A few months earlier, officials of the Cuban Revolutionary Party in New York chose Feb. 24 as the date to launch the revolt. The orders, written on a single sheet of paper, were taken to Tampa by Gonzalo de Quesada. The document was hand-rolled inside a cigar and smuggled into Cuba.

Martin Herrera, a local leader, was expected to speak at the much-anticipated rally. Instead, he asked his 10-year-old daughter, Pennsylvania, to take his place. Pennsylvania stunned the crowd.

Recording the moment, a Tampa Morning Tribune writer waxed floridly:

"The shouts of the large crowd were heard for blocks around and then silence reigned. She began her speech, and then for 20 minutes she spoke extempore in clear, measured tones, giving emphasis to her well-rounded sentences with graceful gestures which brought round after round of applause. ... Not a few eyes were dimmed with tears at the pathos of her eloquence. It was a scene this writer never witnessed before - a little girl pleasing with the earnestness of a prince and the eloquence of a sage for the country she would lay down her pure sweet life to save from serfdom."

Tampa's First Mail Carrier

War destroys nations and lives, but it also liberates the home front and unites. World War I opened new opportunities for women. On June 1, 1918, the Tampa Daily News headline trumpeted, "TAMPA HAS FIRST WOMAN MAIL CARRIER IN STATE."

History books have largely forgotten Ruby Seely. The newspaper noted that Seely lived near the city limits on R.F.D. 2 and in addition to delivering mail, was a music teacher. Indeed, she "expects to continue with her music class in the afternoon as her mail delivery only requires approximately four hours in the morning."

Tampa's postmaster was Edwin Dart Lambright, more famous as the longtime editor of The Tampa Tribune. "She seems very clever and has all the appearances of being a hustler," Lambright said.

Two Hortenses of Tampa

In August 1915, Tampa dedicated a new city hall. It remains one of downtown Tampa's oldest and most venerated buildings.

City Hall's clock tower was especially striking, looming 133 feet above downtown. Adoringly nicknamed "Hortense, the Tampa Town Clock," most Tampa residents have long forgotten who (or what) Hortense was.

Hortense was named for the daughter of a prominent Tampa physician, Louis Sims Oppenheimer. Young Hortense, dismayed that Tampa had no municipal clock, launched a campaign to fund one. Her organization, Ye Town Criers, raised money by sponsoring various entertainments. Alas, the effort failed to raise enough money.

Upon the completion of Tampa City Hall, Willis Powell, editor of the Clearwater Sun, reminded Tampa's citizens of Hortense's dedication to what was no longer a lost cause. Newspapers championed the idea, and the clock was dedicated to Hortense Oppenheimer, "the girl who wanted to buy a city clock."

Hortense Oppenheimer Ford became a fixture in Tampa social and cultural circles. She promoted the Tampa Civic Musical Association, a group that brought singers and orchestras to the city's Municipal Auditorium, later McKay Auditorium on the campus of the University of Tampa.

Another Hortense

Hortense Oppenheimer may have been Tampa's most admired Hortense, but certainly the most prominent was Hortense K. Wells, who ran for the U.S. Senate in 1934, the first woman to aspire to that office, according to the Tribune.

That year, she served as the Democratic national committeewoman for Florida. During the U.S. Senate race, she pledged "to make an active and vigorous campaign," promising that her platform dovetailed Roosevelt's New Deal.

A native of Georgia whose family migrated to Florida in the late 19th century, she became a stenographer at Knight & Wall Hardware. A parishioner of the Episcopal Church, she owned and operated Wells Advertising Co, a direct mail enterprise. Wells also was active in the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Order of Eastern Star.

She finished a distant third in the '34 race, in what was perhaps the most corrupt U.S. Senate election in state history. Sen. Park Trammell triumphed, but only after his supporters in Ybor City and West Tampa stuffed the ballot box in a notorious plan to thwart challenger and upstart Claude Pepper.

During WWII, Hortense Wells served as a WAC in the European Theater, returning as a corporal.

In 1950, she lost a bid for U.S. Congress.

Readers with information about the two Hortenses or Ruby Seely are encouraged to write. Gary R. Mormino holds the Frank E. Duckwall professorship in Florida Studies and teaches at University of South Florida St. Petersburg. E-mail him at gmormino@stpt.usf

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