By LINDA CHION KENNEY
While fixing up her 95-year-old mother’s home, Sandra Hancock Rossiter discovered a trove of photos and maps that give testament to the early days of a town name Peru, now known as Riverview.
That the town’s history is inextricable from her own family’s saga is evident in the photos and maps she had on display Sept. 11 at the Riverview Civic Center, where the Riverview Garden Club celebrated its 70th anniversary and meets monthly.
The story of the north-south ferry that transported people across the Alafia River, where the William T. Williams Bridge spans the river at U.S. Highway 301 South, is one of many Rossiter recounted in her historical look back. She included a snippet about the “big metal structure” from the torn-down Lafayette Street Bridge in Tampa, “which was used to build the bridge in Riverview, as it was first fashioned.
Sandra Hancock Rossister holds a photo of Hancock’s General Store.
Harkening back to the ferry days, and for some time thereafter, the Alafia Hotel stood basically where the newly opened Riverview Marina stands, at 10531 Moody Road, named for Benjamin Moody, a pioneer settler considered the founder of Riverview. The marina sits across the street from Tiki Docks River Bar & Grill, off U.S. Highway 301 at 10704 Palmetto St.
Built by the Peruvian Mining Company to house its phosphate mining workers, the building that sported the Alafia Hotel eventually fell into the hands of Rossiter’s grandfather, James “Horace” Hancock, who ran the general store/post office with his wife, Mary.
“The building was the gathering place of the community,” she added. “People would hang out there and share the stories of the day. There was a lot of history in that building.”
Rossiter said her family traces its roots back to the pioneer days, when Riverview, up until the 1940s, was known as Peru (pronounced “pee-roo”), a native term for “straight part of the river.” According to Rossiter, historical accounts reveal that Peru was founded in 1845 on the Alafia River’s south shore. As the town’s phosphate mining industry took off, the town experienced rapid growth, which reportedly led developers, Isham Copeland and F.S. Morrison, to plat the land on the north shore, which became Riverview, in 1891.
Roughly 40 years later, after ownership changed hands several times, Hancock became the owner of the general store and post office, “the hotspot of the town,” Rossiter said, as she held up a vintage photo of Hancock’s General Store, which she found in a storage box in her mother’s house.
It’s one of the many historical items Rossiter brought to the Sept. 11 anniversary luncheon at the civic center. “The Riverview Woman’s Club is one of the first clubs to hold meetings in the center, which was established as well in 1954,” Rossiter said. “People were dying to get a building that would house civic events, so they went to the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners. They were told that if they could get the land and money to build the building, the county would maintain it” and the associated park.
The Boyette family donated the land on the banks of the Alafia River, where a sign today reads, “Riverview Civic Center & Park,” at 11020 Park Drive. The hand-drawn plan for the building, drawn by Rossiter’s father, Lawrence Hancock, was among the items Rossiter showcased at the luncheon.
In a subsequent interview, Rossiter talked about the many roles her family members played in town life, including her grandparents as Riverview postmasters. She paid tribute to the many people who raised funds to ensure the establishment of the civic center, where she said she had her first dance recital and where teenagers would gather weekend nights to listen to music and dance.
Linda Chion Kenney photos
Sandra Hancock Rossiter at the Riverview Civic Center, with an historical map she found in her mother’s home.
“My grandfather, like many others, caught fish in the river for fish-fry fundraisers,” Rossiter said. “People did whatever they had to do to raise money to build the civic center.”
It took grit and determination to build a town and its meeting spaces, “and that’s how I learned what civic duty is,” Rossiter said. “It takes a lot to grow a village, and sometimes I feel like I grew up in a Norman Rockwell painting.”
The Riverview Garden Club meets 10 a.m. on the second Wednesday of the month at the Riverview Civic Center, 11020 Park Drive, except in July and August. The business meeting is followed by programs and presentations related to gardening, the environment and social service organizations. A potluck luncheon follows. Visit the club’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/p/Riverview-Garden-Club-of-Florida-100064568205063/. Email riverviewgardenclub1954@gmail.com/.
