Dixie Lily Milling Company & Florida Central & Peninsular Railroad

Dixie Lily Milling Company and Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad. . , In 1939, Georgia native Cecil M. Webb founded the Dixie Lily Milling Company. Originally named the Kinchafoonee Milling Company, the company gradually replaced the name with Dixie Lily. The first mill was in Miami but was soon followed by the opening of a plant in Tampa at this site. The Tampa mill quickly became the primary location for Dixie Lily brand products. The Tampa plant was first used to produce "Webb's Syrup" and to mill and package corn meal and grits until a fire destroyed the building in 1945. In 1950, the company opened a new $1.5 million mill on the same site. In 1961, six new storage tanks were added to the Tampa operation. The company expanded into other food products including beans, rice, and wheat flour. The company supplied Florida bakeries and home cooks with staples that became synonymous with Florida cuisine. Eventually, the company was purchased by ConAgra foods, who renamed the mill Ardent Mills. In 2022, the mill moved to Gibsonton, Florida, and the operation here closed., The Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad, originally owned by the Florida Railway and Navigation Company, arrived in Tampa in 1890. It was the second railroad to reach downtown Tampa after Henry Plant's South Florida Railroad in 1884. The Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad traveled into Tampa via First Avenue and curved southwest into downtown Tampa before running west along Whiting Street. A depot was located at the west end of Whiting Street near the intersection of the Hillsborough River. By 1902, Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad became part of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad system. The South Florida Railroad was then absorbed into the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. Both lines serviced downtown Tampa, with the Seaboard Air Line Railroad system operating several terminals along the waterfront as well as spur rail lines to nearby industrial buildings. These numerous spurs serviced the industries in downtown Tampa including the former Dixie Lily Mill (Ardent Mills). As downtown Tampa has changed and industry has shifted to other areas of the city, sections of the railroad, like those that were here previously, were abandoned and removed.