East Pasco Chamber of Commerce History
The Fingerprints Of Boards Of Trade & Chambers Abound & Are Now Evolving Into
East Pasco Chamber Of Commerce
MADONNA JERVIS WISE
B.S. MA., LMHC, AUTHOR HISTORIAN
MadonnaWiseBooks.com; MadonnaJWise@gmail.com
At a pivotal time in Florida’s economic development, “East Pasco Chamber of Commerce” will merge the Dade City Chamber of Commerce, the Zephyrhills Chamber of Commerce, and nearby areas of east Pasco to address the unique needs surfacing at the onset of the second quarter of the twenty-first century. This merger is part of the ongoing journey of chambers in the area which took root in 1911, as Boards of Trade. The evolution is cyclical and although the new merger appears monumental in the history of east Pasco, it is actually a continuation of the evolution of the chamber!
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE HAS FRENCH ROOTS!
The earliest Chamber of Commerce emerged in Marseilles, France around 1599, when that city council wished to regulate trade. The concept subsequently expanded throughout Europe, and by the era of the settlement of the American colonies, the Chamber concept had taken root in New York City in 1768, where a local unit was chartered by King George III prior to the American Revolution. Soon afterward the first local chamber was founded in Charleston, South Carolina in 1773. President William Howard Taft was a particular advocate of the Chamber philosophy, and beseeched the U.S. Congress to encourage the formation of a national chamber organization. By 1912, the U.S. Chamber was instituted, and an international chamber structure followed in 1919.
THE UNIQUE HISTORY OF EAST PASCO
Indigenous Native Americans occupied east Pasco around 14,000 BCE. Many native groups across Florida were decimated by European-introduced diseases from explorations, leading to a population “vacuum” by the early eighteenth century, and within decades, various southeastern Indians, the majority of whom were Creek, began settling the area; they became known as the Seminole. Beginning in 1835 and until 1842, the United States and the Seminole were at war. The Third Seminole War, 1855-1858, drove the Seminole from the region, facilitating further white settlement.
Three settlements in particular thrived into the twenty-first century in the area which were to become east Pasco as the larger population sites included Dade City, Zephyrhills, and Wesley Chapel.
Dade City was a pristine southern county seat with stylized buildings and roots back to 1842. The settlement that was named Fort Dade began to evolve when James Gibbons was issued a land patent for 160 acres in 1842. The lure of resources such as the Withlacoochee River and newly cleared Fort King Road (1825) brought promise to settlers.
Dade City was incorporated in 1889. Known for turpentine and lumber from after the Civil War until World War II, open range was the norm for the cattle industry until the late 1940’s. The Great Freezes of 1894-95 destroyed the abundant citrus groves. Sunnybrook Tobacco Company was Pasco’s largest employer from 1908 until 1920, when a potent tobacco disease coined “Black Shank,” virtually eliminated the commodity in east Pasco. Citrus cultivation was revitalized soon after, and the Pasco Packing Association (Lykes-Pasco) opened in 1936. Later known for pioneering the development of citrus concentrate, Dade City embodied the citrus packing industry until the 1980’s when several brutal freezes again annihilated citrus.
Zephyrhills took root with a Railroad tycoon’s investment of 1886. Simon J. Temple who had business dealings throughout Florida purchased 280 acres in 1886, for $1,026, from the Florida Railway and Navigation Corporation. Temple named the area Abbott after Dr. Joseph M. Abbott. When the train came through in 1896, ‘station’ was affixed to the town’s name of Abbott.
The official founding of Zephyrhills was 1910. Civil War Captain, Howard B. Jeffries, purchased land in 1909 to initiate a settlement for retired Union Civil War Veterans and advertised across the nation and territories. Subsequently, the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) hosted annual encampments and affected Florida and national policies as a significant special interest group for decades.
The Dade City Woman’s Club was instrumental in prompting the Dade City Board of Trade to convert to a Chamber. The home of the Dade City Woman’s club from 1915 to 1925 where the early Dade City Chamber met was at the former Orvil L. Dayton home, now the site of the South State Bank (previous to that the Pasco Theatre at Church & 7th). Photo from Jeff Miler.
While still agrarian in nature, this community also became known for “Tin Can Tourists” as Zephyr Park became a haven for winter visitors and a number of trailer parks emerging over time building a diverse population.
Sparsely populated in 1842, Wesley Chapel was obscure... known for turpentine stills, lumber resources, Fifth Sunday Sings, and ‘cracker’ livestock. Alternately known as Godwin, Double Branch, ‘Westley,’ and Gator-ville, merely twelve families were documented in the 1840 survey map. Until the last quarter of the twentieth century, Wesley Chapel remained meagerly populated. Students were bussed to Zephyrhills and Dade City for schooling and in place of a nucleus of a town, the general store and Double Branch Baptist Church were the main congregating areas. Recognized for the “Fifth Sunday Sing,” the Double Branch Baptist Church hosted a singing convention—usually five times per year called “Fifth Sunday Sings” with “Dinner on the Ground.”
Rarely acknowledged in history were the huge lumber trusts in the Wesley Chapel area. New York entrepreneurs, Percy A. Rockefeller, Otto Hermann Kahn, and Edwin Wiley Grove owned over 20,000 acres of enormous timber land which they harvested. In the age of trustification, the land was abandoned when the federal government was busting trusts in the late 1920’s. A number of chamber articles referenced the lumber trusts and the tycoons were affiliated with the local Chambers.
FLORIDA
Achieving statehood in 1845, Florida was almost solely agrarian. Although the earliest goals of the Chambers were to regulate trade, the Chambers also addressed ancillary needs. By 1916, Florida including Pasco County, was in crisis as they were under federal quarantine because of the cattle tick. The quarantine threatened the state’s entire economy, and the leaders met to address the problem: a Florida Chamber of Commerce was born in 1916.
BOARDS OF TRADE
Soon after Pasco County originated in 1887, communities were organizing Boards of Trade. The first board of trade in east Pasco was in Trilby, north of Dade City in 1911. The following year in 1912, the Chicago Tribune published an article about tourism entitled “Florida Highlands,” a popular name for the hills of east Pasco in the early twentieth century, and mentioned the new Dade City Board of Trade. One cannot help but fall in love with Dade City when reading the Tampa Tribune account of March 10, 1912, at the kick off of the Board of Trade:
Long tables with blooming jessamine and full fruited kumquat twigs gathered from the hillsides where the warmth of winter sun and the balmy breezes wafted over the shimmering lakes stretched across the long veranda of the new Edwinola Hotel in Dade City. Seated about the table were ninety men gathered from all over the country, many of whom were Presidents of Boards of Trade such as Jacksonville and Tampa and various industries who traveled by train to attend. After the consommé was served, President of the Dade City Board of Trade, Charles F. Touchton, stood to welcome the dignitaries.
Later Senator George W. Dayton concluded the illustrious event. The hope of growth, change, and industry permeated the joyful and elegant evening. (The Dade City Board of Trade was incorporated in 1913). Dr. R. Thor Weaver completed the constitution and bylaws for this first Board and received acknowledgement from William McRae in 1915 of their acceptance and recognition of a Marketing Bureau for Dade City.
Boards of Trade were also documented in the east Pasco communities of Zephyrhills (1912), San Antonio (1916), New Port Richey (1915), Crystal Springs (1919), Blanton-Jessamine (1923), and Denham-Myrtle (1923). By 1922, the Boards of Trade waned and most of the communities in Pasco were reorganizing as Chambers of Commerce. As the various communities were expanding, the focus of the Board of Trade on primarily markets was not adequate to address the multifaceted needs of the burgeoning towns. Even at the national level there were efforts to bring the Board of Trade and Chamber of Commerce into a single organization as early as 1908. Will Burns, Vice President of the Association of Chamber of Commerce explained distinctions, historically, chambers represented businesses in a geographic region while a board of trade represented individuals engaged in similar lines of business although both evolved over time, and more recently organizations are using partnership or alliance in the name.
Dade City Board of Trade met at the Edwinola Hotel before they had a dedicated space photo from Jack Malarkey collection (both photos from Jeff Miller and Fivay.org).
Photo above: Dade City Board of Trade met Pasco County Chamber which was founded by the Dade City Chamber of Commerce in 1922 with a female and male representative from every Pasco community.
Representatives in 1927 include: front row: Waldo Richardson, Dade City; Mrs. M.H. McKinney, Lake Jovita; H.J. Cadmus, Dade City; Mrs. W.H. Cook, Zephyrhills; W.R. Shearer, Dade City; and second row: Carl H. Rerick Secretary of the Pasco County Chamber: F.B. Williams, New Port Richey; J.D. Darlington, New Port Richey; W.T. Nettles, County Agent, George S. Hanford, Zephyrhills; R.D. Gerrans, Zephyrhills. Photo from Pioneer Florida & Museum.
Locally, women were active behind the scenes in the conversion from Boards of Trade to Chambers. Frustrated with the lack of progress of the Dade City Board of Trade, the Dade City Woman’s Club met in January of 1922, at the Woman’s Club building. The local newspaper, The Dade City Banner’s front page headlines boasted, ”Woman’s Club Urge Business Club Revival...Feed the Brutes and Make them Talk.” Coordinated by Dollie Maynard Hendley, president of the Dade City Woman’s Club for the flailing Dade City Board of Trade, she and her cohorts wanted to encourage its reactivation. Sure enough, following the meeting the president of the Dade City Board of Trade, Christopher A. (C.A.) Lock made an attempt to rehabilitate the Dade City Board of Trade to no avail, and within a month the Dade City Chamber of Commerce was christened at a subsequent meeting hosted by the Woman’s Club on January 24, 1922. Perhaps coincidentally, a similar movement occurred in Zephyrhills. Carl B. Taylor wrote in June 1922, that the ‘ladies of Zephyrhills’ were backing “with all their might” a movement to organize a Zephyrhills Chamber of Commerce and planning an old-fashioned 4th of July celebration get-together to advocate for a chamber.
THE DADE CITY CHAMBER WAS FOUNDED IN 1922 AND THE ZEPHYRHILLS CHAMBER IN 1924.
Noteworthy just after the origin of the Dade City Chamber, a strong mission to also originate a Pasco County Chamber of Commerce came into fruition. Encouraged by the Lake County and Sumter County Chambers, Carl Hubert (C.H.) Rerick said the work of a county chamber was to unify the work of developing the county. On October 18, 1922, the newly formed Dade City Chamber set up the county Chamber with representatives from every community in Pasco. At that first Pasco County Chamber meeting they voted that each community would send one man and one woman as a representative. The Pasco Commission furnished $4,000 for the Chamber start up in 1923. The meetings of the county Chamber were lively monthly meetings that incorporated business with social events which were held throughout the county. Issues involved the leaders of Pasco County and included infrastructure...roads, utilities, beautification, and legislation. The Dade City Merchants Association was also initiated in 1926. Publicity was paramount to entice new residents. Efforts included major road regulation as newly created graded roads needed to be maintained and protected from heavy traffic. C.A. Lock and the first Dade City Chamber president, Frederick Cosner brought in Emmett P. Green of the State Highway Commission to advocate for Road No. 2 and the $500,000 needed to construct a road from Dade City through San Antonio, Pasco, Fivay Junction to intersect with Road No. 105 two miles south of Hudson...as straight as possible and to connect east and west.
Dade City Chamber Booth in 1924 at center of Meridian. Photo from Helen Eck Sparkman historical collection. Tourists could pick up maps and information from the booth which was manned by volunteers.
Both the Dade City and Zephyrhills communities were concerned with tourism and although historical accounts regard Zephyrhills as the home of tin can tourists, the Dade City Chamber worked on getting running water and facilities to their five-acre tourist camp in 1927.
By 1924, the Pasco Chamber sponsored the “Florida Exposition” at Madison Square Gardens and published a 16-page folder about Pasco County with a 20,000 distribution. Part of their national exposure came from the huge investors Otto Kahn and Percy A. Rockefeller who published advertisements and gratitude’s that they were “glad to have a stake in Pasco.”
Nearby Zephyrhills was flourishing. The June 29, 1924 Tampa Sunday Times penned “The Chamber is one of the live wires of Zephyrhills,” and expounded that they were placing guides and mileage posts on main highways to give route and distance to Zephyrhills. With a Chamber membership of 100, the city council volunteered to print 2,000 road maps for the Chamber welcome booklets. Plans were in place to construct a public drinking fountain and swimming pool and the Chamber was promoting natural resources for brick yards and poultry centers.
With no identified business designations, The Zephyr Chamber met at the city hall or the GAR building while the Dade City Chamber met at the Woman’s Club or the Edwinola Hotel. The county Chamber met in various communities around the county monthly and held business meetings in the circuit court chambers at the 1909 courthouse in Dade City. The two Chambers met for a joint meeting in 1926, and periodically thereafter.
SAL Depot from 1920s in Zephyrhills. Tracks on east side of Depot. Photo from Zephyrhills Chamber files.
EARLY YEARS OF THE DADE CITY & ZEPHYRHILLS CHAMBERS
Turbulent years, the two east Pasco Chambers ebbed and flowed in tasks and membership from 1928 to the conclusion of World War II, although their focuses were largely on promotion and membership drives. Some noteworthy projects included concentration upon building and keeping safe roads, Dade City’s attempt to buy the Ice, Light and Water Plant in 1923, and placement of an information booth on Meridian in the 1920’s first manned by Lillie Allen. The chamber’s earnest attempt to replace the deteriorating and dangerous Seaboard Coastline Depot with a cleaner and more convenient depot ultimately resulted in a Florida Supreme Court ruling against the railroad and a win for the Dade City Chamber.
The Real Estate Land Boom in 1926 was followed by the Stock Market Crash of 1929 which abruptly changed the economies and lifestyles. By the crash however, Floridians had endured hardship for several years. The Mediterranean Fruit Fly invasion in 1929, again put focus on agrarian issues as another quarantine, this time on citrus, hit the state.
With the Great Depression, Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal was evidenced in the two communities as a variety of WPA projects were undertaken and yet today the WPA limestone buildings such as the Zephyrhills Woman’s Club and the club houses at Hillsborough State Park dot the landscapes as well as the priceless databases generated by the workers that occupy libraries and museums. World War II brought an end to the Depression but the prep for World War II with the Army Air Base in Zephyrhills and its large population of training pilots as well as surveillance towers, victory gardens, and collection drives were paramount to economic growth. Unemployment was high and tourism had abruptly halted.
The first dedicated Zephyrhills Chamber building ... an octagonal bandstand building by 7th Street (now 301) Photo from Jeff Miller & Fivay.org
The second Zephyrhills Chamber of Commerce built.
By 1946, the Dade City Kiwanis Club stepped in to rescue the Dade City Chamber. On December 4th of 1945, Chamber President, George B. Wells submitted his resignation and several board members followed. A call was made for a public meeting for reorganizing the Dade City Chamber of Commerce or developing a new organization.
Dr. R. Thor Weaver as Chairman of the Better Business Committee of Kiwanis worked with the new Chamber president, Johnny M. Jones. Dr. Weaver devised a plan for the Kiwanis Club to foster the Chamber to resurrect it. They needed a new full-time secretary and initiated a campaign for membership, better phone systems, a night policing system, benches at the courthouse, a new city map, and driving regulations with reduced speed limits in town. Department store proprietor/owner John R. Williams succeeded Johnny Jones followed by county agent Jimmy Higgins as Chamber president in 1948, while membership surged to 128 in 1950.
Similarly, Zephyrhills endured the trying times with innovation. An information booth with long tenured secretary Wilma March was in place in the 1930’s. In 1938, Zephyrhills Chamber hosted the Tampa Chamber entourage at the GAR Hall. Wilma made several excursions on the part of the Chamber including manning the Florida exhibit at the World’s Fair in 1940, and arranging Zephyrhills Day at the Florida State Fair the same year with a motorcade from Zephyrhills that was said to be led by the oldest citizen band in the state from Zephyrhills.
The Zephyrhills Chamber constitution/bylaws were revised in 1946, some 22 years after the original formation. The incorporation plan offered impetus to target the construction of a Chamber building, and by 1955, the chamber building fund with F. Earl Hart at the lead, sailed past their target of $5,000. The Zephyrhills Chamber leased some of the Seaboard Railroad right-of-way for the new structure and local contractor Roger Sibley went to work constructing it. The new building replaced the crumbling octagonal bandstand tourist booth. The ground breaking brought a huge crowd including the Tampa Chamber Director, Scott Christopher. They were proud to operate 7-hours-a-day for 6 days per week. Zephyrhills rallied civic groups to encourage southbound traffic on 301. For several years in the 1950’s the Chamber wrote “Come Back to Zephyrhills letters” which were mailed to around 500 annually to invite seasonal tourists from the Midwest and the north. Focus was back on beautification and quality of life. Activist Alice Hall and Charles Price created and promoted an award-winning anti-littering campaign they showcased locally and around the state.
THE 1960’S FORWARD
Long time Dade City Chamber Director Phyllis Smith (1991 to 2008) explained that the Dade City Chamber was incorporated on June 7 of 1960. Believed to be the time when “Greater” was added to their title. She recalled that area Chambers had different emphases which were shown in slogans and annual events. “Each had a different flavor in their approach such as “the friendly city of Pure Water” for Zephyrhills.” She recalled that by the time she was on board the Dade City Chamber had merged with San Antonio, Darby, St. Leo, St Joseph, Lacoochee, Trilby, and Ridge Manor. “We averaged 6,000 walk-ins and 7,000 phone calls per week.”
In Dade City, the Chamber appeared on the WTVS Television station and the Vice President of the national chamber applauded their membership of 524 that same year of 1960. Dade City Chamber hired A. Hanford Eckman as their new industrial coordinator at a decisive time as Cummer Sons Cypress Mill had closed and a devastating freeze in 1958, impacted the economy. The county commission provided $3,000 to the chamber for assistance. Eckman proposed an industrial park for the town and a Committee of 100. At their February 4th 1960 banquet, Albert R. Timberman, Director of Tampa’s Chamber reviewed the power of a Committee of 100 as Zephyrhills Chamber President Major Ralph Barefoot participated. Eckman reported on the progress of east Pasco at the Chicago “Production Engineering Show” in September of 1960. The Dade City Chamber drafted a letter to President John Kennedy after the Cuban Missile Crisis Scare about safety concerns and in 1962, Eckman engineered a deal for Dade City to host the spring training of the Syracuse Chiefs. Both chambers were concerned about the new interstate highway I-75, and attempted to scoot it back closer to their city limits.
By 1962, when Eckman resigned for a promotion in the larger Florida chamber world, the Dade City Chamber had just received “The Governor’s Industrial Achievement Award.”
Dade City Chamber office in front of courthouse in 1960s. Tickets on sale for Porter Wagoner concert.
For several years the Dade City Chamber operated at the site of an observation point for the police department but with the courthouse renovation, they moved to the Lindy Smith Civic Center.
Dade City Chamber of Commerce 2024
Chamber of Commerce Building, Zephyrhills 2024
Aubrey R. McClelland developed a President’s Round Table to expand the role of the Dade City Chamber in 1971. By 1983, The chamber building in front of the courthouse was fully remodeled as local businessman/Kiwanian Roy Hardy had generated $35,000 in donations from his popular barbecue fundraisers, and the San Antonio Boys Village landscaped with a semi-formal rose garden.
In Zephyrhills, tourism was a major focus and by 1968, the annual holiday tree decorating & lighting contest became a signature event hosted by the Zephyrhills Chamber (and lasted over fifty years), featuring categories that included mobile home parks, businesses, homes, and more--all judged by the Zephyrhills Art Club. An iconic, annual fundraiser from 1962 to 1970 was Freddy Peterson who did a demonstration and lecture at the Zephyrhills Municipal Auditorium of his esteemed art sponsored by the Zephyrhills Chamber. Tickets were precious and Peterson, nationally known artist from Denmark; explained palette knife painting technique with the editor of the Zephyrhills News, Bernard Y. Wickstrom emceeing. The painting was auctioned off with proceeds to the Chamber.
A Merchants Association was added in 1958 and a Better Business Bureau in 1965. The Chamber was proud of Walter R. Gall received the State Chamber Distinguished Floridian Award in 1969, for his work on the roads and businesses around Zephyrhills.
In 1972, Zephyrhills and Dade City Chambers participated in a live auction to create funding for educational television for public schools. Al Kiefer, chair of the Merchants Association in Dade City and Felix Karpenski, Director of the Zephyrhills Chamber, applauded this innovative technological tool that would assist students. Also in 1972, Chamber president Russell Heffelfinger hosted Tampa Mayor Dick Greco for their annual membership roundup which proved to be a rousing success. Alice Hall, lifetime Zephyr Chamber member and regular columnist in the Tampa Tribune wrote in her November 16, 1973 column that the name of the Zephyrhills Chamber of Commerce was officially changed to the name, “Greater Zephyrhills Chamber of Commerce” on November 16, 1973.
In retirement, Russell returned to service as a Chamber Ambassador, and he and his wife Lee have served for 20 years as “Chamber Ambassadors,” a program that both Chambers utilize. Anecdotes of the community including the second Chamber office built in 1955, and the exemplary Ambassador duo of John and Diana MacDiarmid who volunteered tirelessly. The Dade City Chamber began the Ambassador program on January 1, 1990 with chairperson Jean McClung, and also speaks very highly of the volunteer program.
Dade City Mainstreet was formed in 1986, largely from the leadership of former Dade City Mayor Pat Weaver, who wrote the grant. They modeled their early work after Thomasville, Georgia with consultation from Pat Powell. Early projects included landscaping along 7th Street and on Meridian Avenue and façade renovation. By 1999, Gail Hamilton worked on a plan to extend the Pioneer Museum into the Atlantic Depot building for a visitors’ center. When Dade Street Mainstreet was folded in 2013, a list of accomplishments focused upon rescuing and preserving historical buildings.
The Zephyrhills Mainstreet was incorporated in 1994 and continues in 2024. In 2005, the streetscape project brought about a transformation in downtown. Mayor Cliff McDuffie, former city chamber director touted the work and progress of Main Street, stating, “Any time we have visitors to this city, they remark on how beautiful the downtown community appears.” The Zephyrhills Mainstreet website currently highlights the successes of new businesses opened, jobs created, and funding invested into the district, benefitting the whole community.
Signature events were common over time as in the case of the Zephyrhills Chamber Christmas Lighting Decoration event for several decades. The festival with the greatest panache in east Pasco over time to date is the Kumquat Festival that began on January 31 of 1998, the same year that Dade City Chamber moved into their new building which is the current location in 2024. The unique festival was the brain child of a dynamic threesome, Phyllis Smith, Carlene Ellberg, and Roxine Barthle, all of whom were active members of the Dade City Chamber. Phyllis explained, “We tried Christmas in July and different things, but nothing seemed to take off. The mystique surrounding the skinny orange fruit and its oddball name, started one Saturday morning in 1997 from Carlene Ellburg’s living room in Darby.” Roxine Barthle owned Katy’s Country Corner in St. Joseph and Phyllis Smith was the executive director the Dade City Chamber while Carlene was the editor of the The Pasco News. For second festival they handed out brochures at Interstate 95’s state tourism booth. By 2000, the Pasco News headlined, “The Kumquat Festival Adds Life to Dade City,” but unfortunately this accolade was not without emotion as Carlene Ellberg passed away in 1999, and the festival was dedicated to her. Roxine was particularly known for her kumquat pie recipe which was featured in the Southern Living Magazine. A city clerk of San Antonio and an entrepreneur, Barthle passed away in 2014.
In a recent interview with Phyllis Smith she chuckled as she recalled the great comradery of the founders of the Kumquat Festival, and explained that the threesome were sometimes referred to as the first queens of the festival because in that first unknown year of the festival, there were no applicants for the queen contest so the three of them proudly took on that lively title.
Founders from the signature fundraising and promotional event of the Greater Dade City Chamber with the three founders Roxine Barthle, Phyllis Smith and Carlene Ellbert. Photo from Greater Dade City Chamber of Commerce.
With the first ever 2005 Chalk Art Festival in Zephyrhills, attendance was great as well as the Celtic Festival. Mayor of Zephyrhills, Melonie Bahr Monson believes the annual “Pigz in Zephyrhills” which was initiated in 2010 as a professional barbecue cookoff competition and hometown picnic has evolved into a signature Zephyrhills celebration.
Times were changing and it was reflected in the hierarchy of the Chamber organizations. By 1964, the national Chamber had facilitated an accreditation for Chambers, with more training opportunities and support was available. The Zephyrhills Chamber of Commerce joined the Florida Chamber Foundation composed of 57 local Chambers in 2001. Zephyrhills Chamber of Commerce completed the documentation and was awarded the distinguished Chamber Plus Certification from the (FACP) Florida Association of Chamber Professionals and the FACP 2021 Statewide Communication award.
East Pasco was blossoming in growth especially in the area of Wesley Chapel, the once rural and isolated community transformed into a consumer and business center with the busy Interstate 75 passing through. As that timber land from Rockefeller and Kahn had been ranched for years by owner James “Wiregrass” Porter and the adjoining areas were being developed. Hope Allen Kennedy, President/CEO of North Tampa Chamber, explained that Wesley Chapel sought a unique identity and explored the concept of a chamber. Although their first meetings were in a resident’s garage, in a philosophy of synergy and community spirit, Zephyrhills Chamber Director, Cliff McDuffie who is proud of the programs he instituted while director, such as the Chamber Student of the month, Chamber breakfast and economic development committee, offered to foster the Wesley Chapel Chamber as a component of Zephyrhills until they could branch out to save expense and bureaucracy.
Chamber group with director, Vonnie Mikkelson in 2015 photo of Pigz in ZHills. Photo from Greater Zephyrhills Chamber of Commerce.
Although the offer did not come to fruition, Zephyrhills Chamber was applauded in a Tampa Business Journal for their innovation and community spirit to promote growth. In a departure from east Pasco merging, the Wesley Chapel Chamber merged to become the North Tampa Chamber composed of Lutz, Odessa, Trinity, and Wesley Chapel.
THE PROCESS OF MERGING THEN AND NOW...
The evolution of Chambers of Commerce includes expansion. Throughout the history of east Pasco, there were milestones of assimilation of the communities.
Those early frontier communities of east Pasco with the sand streets and fenced yards to keep the livestock from invading properties during open range transformed many times over, as the early Boards of Trade and Chambers guided the growth and eased the changes.
Mayor Scott Black of Dade City who is a historian of the early east Pasco town of Trilby explained one example. Trilby’s first incarnation of Board of Trade was from 1911-1914, and a local chamber was activated 1916 and 1926, later absorbed by the Trilby Civic Improvement Club that developed a winter tourist camp and promoted the area in advertising. Almost every community in east Pasco experienced unique metamorphous of this type, and subsequently merged with the larger communities for their business health as did Trilby with what was to become the Greater Dade City Chamber of Commerce.
John Moors, former CEO of Dade City Chamber who retired in June of 2023, was a great communicator and collaborator. He helped create SMART Start Pasco’s Incubator Network with the Pasco Economic Council in 2012. “To have that in conjunction with Saint Leo University, TECO, and the City of Dade City was important.” Also proud of the Chamber’s leadership in creating and hosting “Access East Pasco and Access to Opportunity,” Moors community spirit was strong. He and Chamber leaders are immensely proud of the depth of exposure of the Kumquat Festival which has outgrown everyone’s expectation as an opportunity to showcase the qualities of good old-fashioned Southern charm and small businesses.
Melonie Monson came on board as CEO in Zephyrhills in 2014, and she committed to studying the Chamber structure while facilitating the certification process and also obtaining the credential of Florida Certified Chamber Professional. Monson acknowledged her predecessor, Vonnie Mikkelson for doing a lot of the leg work in taking the Chamber to a new level of economic focus.
John Moors announced that the boards of both chambers approved the formation of a task force in 2020 to look into the logistics and possible benefits of merging. With ten members from each community representing hospitals, banks and small businesses, and groups, Randy Stovall, Provost Emeritus of Pasco Hernando State College chaired the task force. They met about a dozen times throughout 2020-2021 and formulated subcommittees on budget, membership, and mission.
Their new name was deemed East Pasco Chamber of Commerce. An earlier formal use of the term east Pasco came from the development of the East Pasco Foundation begun in October of 2021 as a 501(c)3 nonprofit. The Chamber’s emphasis is largely on training and workforce development with attention to long-term economic health and quality of life.
Unexpectedly COVID 19 put somewhat of an abrupt halt to the planning but also offered a time of reflection, perhaps not unlike times from the past history of the east Pasco Boards of Trade and Chambers. Proceeding, on September 28th of 2023, the Chambers announced their pending merger. In their press release they wrote, “by uniting their efforts they will be able to bring new cooperative marketing opportunities, workforce development strategies and a stronger combined effort for advocacy.” Wiggins said that a combined chapter would have a stronger voice and advocacy on the county and state level and members would gain more of a value by expanding the geographic reach of the Chamber.
A MESSAGE FROM MADONNA WISE: For the article I spent much time reviewing history and understanding the structure of the Chamber. Thank you to Vicki Wiggins for seeking me out to research and write this piece. Our publisher Jet Hall asked me to include context with a quick history of the three communities with commentary on Merchants Associations and Main Street Associations.
Many thanks to Chris Mead who offered the quote, Chambers have their fingerprints on a lot more than one might imagine. His book, Magicians of Mainstreet: America and its Chambers is one of the only histories of the institution of the Chamber of Commerce. His interview on May 21 as he was leaving for Ukraine was informative and enjoyable.
Thanks also to Dr. Robert J. Rohrick of the Tampa Chamber who did his dissertation entitled, Playing Darts in the Dark: How are Chamber of Commerce Leaders Aligned for Greater Effectiveness for his informative research and interview.
Thanks for the contributions of Cliff McDuffie, former Mayor of Zephyrhills and former CEO of Zephyrhills Chamber; Phyllis Smith, former CEO of Dade City Chamber; Scott Black, Mayor of Dade City, Melonie Bahr Monson, Mayor of Zephyrhills and former CEO of Zephyrhills Chamber, John Moors, former Executive Director of Greater Dade City Chamber of Commerce; Hope Kennedy Allen, CEO of North Tampa Chamber; Russell and Lee Heffelfinger, Chamber Ambassadors; Will Burns, VP at Communications & Networks Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives for clarification on missions of Boards of Trade and Chambers, Jet Hall, publisher of The Florida Women Magazine, and Stephanie Black for allowing me access to the history center at the Florida Pioneer Museum & Village. Thanks to Brent Scharber, Jo Huber, and Melody Floyd for assistance with photos.
A lengthy literature search was done and is available on ‘special projects’ section of “MadonnaWiseBooks.com.”