Forest Hills
In
1926, a savvy developer lured 10,000 prospective
buyers to Forest Hills by staging a free boxing
match featuring heavyweight champ Jack Dempsey.
Soon, though, the Florida land boom turned bust and
not even the area's lush golf course and plush
clubhouse could attract buyers.
Another sports legend, golfer Mildred "Babe"
Didrikson Zaharias, and her wrestler husband,
George, bought the golf course in 1949. The couple
worked to return the clubhouse to its former glory
until Babe fell prey to the first symptoms of the
cancer that would take her life in 1956.
Today, the city-owned Babe Zaharias Golf Course
provides a park-like center for the middle-class
suburban community carved from the north Tampa
woodlands.
"The golf course winding through the neighborhood
gives Forest Hills a sort of rural feel," says
10-year resident Dan Ruth. "In the evening and
early morning when I walk the dogs, I always try to
appreciate how quiet and peaceful it seems. Also,
the wildlife—I can't tell you how many times I've
walked out to get the paper and there's a heron
standing there in my yard. It's a great sight."
Click
on the link to the right for a slide show of the
original Forest Hills Country Club. Note these
pictures are courtesy Tampa-Hillsborough County
Public Library System and are from the Burgert
Brothers Photographic Collection.