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Batting An Idea Around

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By JOYCE McKENZIE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 6, 2007

TEMPLE TERRACE - Two community service organizations are going to bat to bring back a rare piece of their town's history.

Friends of Temple Terrace Parks and Recreation and the Temple Terrace Preservation Society have partnered in a fundraising effort to rebuild the Bat Tower.

Built in 1924 along the banks of the Hillsborough River near Riverhills Drive, the roost for mosquito-eating bats was intended to curb the spread of malaria, a potentially fatal disease transmitted through the bite of female mosquitoes.

It was designed by Charles Campbell, a San Antonio, Texas, physician who in 1919 was a Nobel Prize nominee for his work in the field. The tower had a 10-foot-wide concrete base and a 40-foot-tall wooden tower that contained ribbed racks from which the bats could hang.

'Many residents consider it the greatest of Temple Terrace icons. People used to come from everywhere to see it,' said Temple Terrace resident Grant Rimbey, 44, a local architect and immediate past president of the Preservation Society who has fond memories of fishing as a youngster near the tower.

However, Rimbey said, the structure was deemed nonfunctioning when experts discovered that bats were not roosting there, as its configuration was not conducive to attracting the flying mammals.

As a result, it stood uninhabited and deteriorating until 1976, when city fathers initiated a campaign to restore it and have it named a county historical landmark. The effort came to a halt three years later when a suspected arsonist set fire to the tower, almost destroying it. The remaining wood portion of the tower has since rotted, leaving a segment of its concrete foundation.

Only three of the original 14 Campbell-designed bat towers built worldwide still exist. Two are on private property near San Antonio, Texas, and the other is at Sugarloaf Key, an island about 15 miles east of Key West.

Rimbey plans to visit the latter site in late fall, where he will take note of its external proportions and materials used to build the structure.

'I'm doing that so they will exactly match those of our previous historic tower,' said Rimbey, who also has intentions of making the new tower a functioning bat roost, one he contends will help reduce the use of pesticides to curb mosquito infestations.

For that aspect of the project, he's enlisted the expertise of Cynthia and George Marks, founders of the Florida Bat Conservancy in Bay Pines.

'Bats are so very important to our ecosystem because each one eats about 3,000 insects a night,' Cynthia Marks said. 'And, with our bat population diminishing, it would be wonderful to see Temple Terrace rebuild its Bat Tower.'

The Brazilian free-tailed bat and the evening bat are the species the tower would be intended to attract, Rimbey said.

Al Latina, president of Friends of Temple Terrace Parks and Recreation, a volunteer arm of the city-run department, favors the project. In his view, it's a natural fit to its mission of helping to enhance the city's parks and protect its natural environment.

The organizations have approval to build the new tower at the city-owned, 150-acre Riverfront Park, north of Bullard Parkway/Temple Terrace Highway between the Hillsborough River and the eastern campus of Florida College.

'It's going to be a long-term project,' said Latina, who estimates the project could cost about $75,000. 'We'd like to also build a boardwalk by the river, and it could all provide a nice destination point.'
Temple Terrace resident Randy Simmons grew up along the river's edge and remembers the Bat Tower well. He supports the project.

'It's just one of those rare things you see as a kid and you never forget,' said Simmons, who owns a 2-foot wooden replica of the landmark made by one of his employees.

John Rodgers, a North Riverhills Drive resident and biologist for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, called the project a 'neat idea.'

'It's not only historical, but it's so unique,' he said. 'It's quite a design with all those details, including a lot of little louvers and things, and I think it brings something special to the city.'

The two organizations will host an Adopt a Bat booth during Riverfest, an annual event Oct. 20 featuring canoe races, music and barbecue at Riverhills Park. For a small donation, those attending can take home small plush toy bats. A similar table will be set up Oct. 27 at the Temple Terrace Family Recreation Complex during the city-sponsored Halloween celebration.

In the future, the groups also plan to sell Temple Terrace Bat Tower custom-labeled wines, produced by a local vintner, with a percentage of the profits going toward the bat tower project.

TO HELP

To make a donation to the Bat Tower project, send a check payable to the city of Temple Terrace and designated for the Bat Tower project to: Al Latina, Friends of Temple Terrace Parks and Recreation, 7002 Doreen St., Tampa FL 33617.

For details, call (813) 988-6794.

Reporter Joyce McKenzie can be reached at (813) 865-4849 or jmckenzie@tampatrib.com.

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