McCall Park
History
Originally dedicated in 1971 and later expanded and rededicated in 1998, McCall Park is the hub for many downtown events. According to files at Plant City Photo Archives and the book Plant City: It's Origins and History by Quintilla Geer Bruton and D.E. Bailey, the park was named for Theodore Jeffers McCall (1906-1990). An avid aviator in the 1920's, McCall was a fireman in the early 1920s and later a motorcycle policeman in 1929. In the 1930s, he was appointed superintendent of the streets department and later the superintendent of the combined sanitation department and jail. In 1939, he was appointed Chief of Police and later served as City Manager for nearly 27 years from January 1941 to December 1967.
Originally dedicated in 1971 and later expanded and rededicated in 1998, McCall Park is the hub for many downtown events. According to files at Plant City Photo Archives and the book Plant City: It's Origins and History by Quintilla Geer Bruton and D.E. Bailey, the park was named for Theodore Jeffers McCall (1906-1990). An avid aviator in the 1920's, McCall was a fireman in the early 1920s and later a motorcycle policeman in 1929. In the 1930s, he was appointed superintendent of the streets department and later the superintendent of the combined sanitation department and jail. In 1939, he was appointed Chief of Police and later served as City Manager for nearly 27 years from January 1941 to December 1967.
McCall was the 1st appointed full time City Manager when the City changed it's management style to a City Manager-Commission form of government. McCall was instrumental in the 240% growth of the City from about 5,000 to 17,000 residents, the construction of over 60 miles of paved streets and 10 miles of sidewalks as well as soliciting the Hillsborough Aviation Authority for industrial park land and construction of the $1.6 million industrial waste treatment plant.
Reportedly, in the late 1950's he drew the floor plans for the former City Hall located at Mahoney and Wheeler Streets as well as the floor plans for the then-new recreation facilities named the Planteen Recreation Center and the Haines Street Recreation Center (renamed the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Recreation Center and replaced in 2019 with a new Community Center.
Sources: Focus Magazine, Plant City Photo Archives and History Center, Plant City: It's Origins and History by Quintilla Geer Bruton and D.E. Bailey
- .751 acre linear park parallel to the east-west CSX rail line, running four blocks through downtown
- Anchored on the east end by the Union Station Depot, 102 North Palmer Street
- Various activities host in McCall Park include:
- Chamber Classic Car Show - 3rd Saturday of each month
- Chamber Bike Fest - 4 times a year
- Main Street Food Truck Rallys - last Friday each month
- numerous non-profit special events
