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Woman's Will To Decide Park's Fate

Would uses being suggested be against the last wishes of Cecile Wagnon?

Tribune photo by KATHY STEELE

The county closed shop on its administrative offices for parks, recreation and conservation in December.

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By KATHY STEELE

ksteele@tampatrib.com

Published: February 11, 2009

SULPHUR SPRINGS - Mann-Wagnon Memorial Park is locked behind an aging chain-link fence — a mix of weedy abandonment, boarded-up buildings and nature's beauty.
This is Cecile Wagnon's legacy nearly 48 years after her death in 1961. In coming weeks, Tampa and Hillsborough County officials will take a new look at her last will and testament before deciding the park's future.
Area residents are pressing a long-standing case that the property, 1101 E. River Cove Drive, should become home for a history museum and Stepping Stones, a nonprofit youth arts program. It also could house the art collection of folk artist and sculptor Taft Richardson. The Sulphur Springs resident died last year.
"People could learn about the community — the good, the bad and the ugly," said Norma Robinson, treasurer of the Sulphur Springs Action League Neighborhood Association. "We're hoping young people would get a sense of worth and take ownership."
The catalyst for the review of Wagnon's will was a decision in December for the county to close shop on its administrative offices for parks, recreation and conservation. After 20 years at Mann-Wagnon, the department moved to a site off Falkenburg Road.
Wagnon left nearly 2 acres and three cottages to the City-County Educational and Cultural Committee of Tampa for a memorial park for her husband, W.M. Wagnon, and her brother, Merton Mann. She also left books and personal items to the committee for a natural history museum in her home.
If the city and county could not follow her wishes, Cecile Wagnon wanted "no other buildings placed thereon other than museum buildings."
In a 1957 letter to the city before her death, Wagnon said she did not want the site for a playground, picnics or "fishing from the river banks … but that it will be used solely as a place where people may come and their hearts be gladdened by finding beauty in the buildings and in the gardens, and find peace."
A county judge in 1962 determined the committee could not hold title to property, and ownership went jointly to the city and county.
The museum — the seed for the Museum of Science & Industry on Fowler Avenue — has been gone for many years; the county opened its offices in the 1980s, though some residents thought then that would not meet Wagnon's approval.
With the property suddenly vacant, would it be her wish that some or all of the seven buildings be torn down and the land restored to a natural state, or can some other uses be allowed?
Wagnon and her husband bought the property in the 1920s. They lived in one house and rented two others. Her sister also owned nearby property. At Wagnon's death, a friend lived in one of the rentals.
"It was like a family compound," said Linda Hope, historian and publisher of the Penny Saver.
The park, league members say, might be a link in developing a river walk joining River Tower Park and its iconic water tower to the Sulphur Springs' neighborhood. The 2 acres stretch from just east of the historical Harbor Club, off Nebraska Avenue, to River Cove Drive.
The county is considering deeding its share to the city, said Hillsborough parks and recreation spokesman John Brill. "We obviously have no further interest in it," he said, though "no decision has been reached."
In the years after Wagnon's death, Hope said she remembers Boy Scout troops meeting in a concrete building on the east end of the property. The museum, a log cabin once occupied by Wagnon's brother, had exhibits, art and photography classes.
"It was full of activity and life," Hope said. "It was a wonderful thing."
The cabin had termite damage and was torn down, Hope said. MOSI reportedly has many of the museum's artifacts.
Many people passed by the site in recent years and assumed it was only county offices, Norma Robinson said. "People weren't aware we had access to it."
The buildings "were good enough for the county," said the action league's president, Joseph Robinson, speaking at last month's association meeting. "They can allow us to use them. Time will tell."

Reporter Kathy Steele can be reached at (813) 259-7652.

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