A life inspired by the
River of Fire

The Alafia River in Riverview Florida

Riverview Sunset

"Brandon" Civic Center
to be built in Riverview at Winthrop

"Brandon" is located within the Greater Riverview Area.

       The "Brandon" Civic Center will be built in Riverview, at the Winthrop development located on Bloomingdale.  

       It's exciting to have Riverview chosen as the site of the new community civic center, but it would be preferable for the civic center to have a more community-inclusive name which may also help with the fundraising efforts. 

      It would also be preferable to have the Brandon powers-that-be show respect for Riverview's Community Plan and Riverview's long-established boundaries.  In the article below, Riverview is referred to as being in "the greater Brandon area," which is not true.  "Riverview" is actually quite clearly located in "Riverview."  In fact, as everyone knows, "Brandon" is actually located in the "Greater Riverview Area."  

      I am very interested in Riverview maintaining its boundaries, and its identity.  And the Winthrop development is quite clearly located within Riverview's boundaries.  

Here's the link to the article referenced above:

 http://brandonnews2.tbo.com/content/2008/feb/23/br-site-secured-for-brandon-civic-center/?news

Article Highlights Riverview History

Recent Article on Dan's Bar Offers Clues
to Early Location of
Peru Mining Company

     We were thrilled to see an article written by Liz Bleau of the Brandon News & Tribune that provides clues to Riverview's early incarnation as "Peru."   Thank you Liz Bleau and the Tampa Tribune!

     For a long time now we have been searching for clues to Riverview's History Mystery:  the apparently lost location of the Peru Mining Company which was located somewhere along the Alafia River.  "Peru" was the original name of the area located on the south side of the Alafia River, which is now known as Riverview.  Back in the days of "Peru," the original "Riverview" was the area on the north side of the Alafia River. 

    Please read the article below to learn about the location of Peru, and about the history of Dan's Bar, and about the future of the area formerly known as "Peru:"

Bar Nears Last Call As Development Looms

    Below is a re-posting of an article I wrote about Peru which provides all the clues and information I have discovered to date regarding the early community of "Peru."

Riverview History Mystery

Can You Help?

The Peruvian Mining Company

We are looking for clues to this Riverview History Mystery:

Does anyone know where the original Peruvian Mining Company was located along the Alafia River in what is now known as Riverview?

The story:

The Alafia River, (pronounced AL-uh-fi, and not AL-uh-FI-uh by most speakers) gets its name from an old Indian term meaning "River of Fire" because of the flashes of light that could be seen in the river at night. Those sparkling streaks were caused by the phosphorus in the water.  In the 1890's phosphate was discovered in this area and in the Alafia River.  A phosphate mining facility was soon built near where US Highway 301 crosses the river near  the little settlement in the area.  That settlement, located on the south side of the Alafia River, was originally named “Peru” (pronounced “PEE-ru”).   It seems the small settlement  of Peru gave its name to the Peruvian Mining Company that was built nearby in the 1890s.  

“Peru” eventually came to be known as Riverview (after the Riverview settlement on the North side of the Alafia River also begun in the 1890s).

Recently I was doing some research on the name “Peru” in an attempt to verify that the  “Peru” settlement gave its name to the Peruvian Mining Company.  My Internet search took me to some Native American websites.

Interestingly enough, I discovered at one website called the "Glossary of Indian Names" that “Peru” is a Miami Indian word meaning “a straight place in the river.” See:

http://users.michweb.net/~orendon/americans/glosary2.html

I looked at a map and sure enough, the area thought to be originally known as “Peru” does indeed appear to be located on “a straight place in the [Alafia] river.” I then decided to check our Atlas to find out if there were other “Peru’s” located in the U.S., and whether or not they appeared to be on “a straight place in the river.”

I did not do an exhaustive search, just a somewhat amateurish one, but I found 5 “Peru’s” in the U.S.:

Peru, Indiana (the Miami Indians hometown); Peru, Illinois; Peru, Nebraska; Peru, Massachusetts; and Peru, New York.

All of these Peru’s are located on a river.  Coincidence?  Well, it certainly could be. Or perhaps it is a clue to the true origins of the settlement known as “Peru,” which is now part of Riverview.

If you have any information or clues to share with us, we would really appreciate hearing from you. We’ll pass along any information we may get to anyone interested in this Riverview History Mystery.

Thanks! 

Terri Bakas
tbakas@aol.com

Riverview Mom's Club

The Riverview Mom's Club is part of the International MOMS Club.

Riverview Mom's Club Web Site

     The MOMS (Moms Offering Moms Support) Club is for you, the stay-at-home mom of today.  The MOMS Club welcomes moms from the Riverview area living in zip codes 33569, 33578, and 33579.  For more information please visit the website.

 

Riverview Photos

Click here to view photos of Riverview that have been generously shared with us for posting on Riverview Online.  We loved the photos and we are pleased to share them with you! 

Antique Fishing Tackle

FEMA List of things to do as fire approaches

The recent brush fires in Riverview prompted us to start thinking seriously about what we should do if our home is threatened by a brush fire.  Many of us in Riverview live side-by-side with conservation areas, trees, and fields of brush.   John put together the following list and we wanted to share it with our Riverview neighbors:   

Here is a list of things that might help.  The three that caught my attention were 1) "turn off the gas," I am not sure I know how to do that, hmmm must go outside and look around, or maybe in the garage, 2) put a ladder in plain view, and 3) turn on lights in every room.     Read more...

Osprey Observer Article
About Riverview Online Message Board Posters
First Get-Together

Here is a link to the article:

Riverview Online Chatters Really Click - Osprey Observer

Riverview.

Our Past. Our Present.  Our Future

The Alafia River

"Time is but the stream I go a-fishin in. I drink at it, but while I drink I see the sandy bottom and detect how shallow it is.  It's thin current slides away, but eternity remains."  ~Henry David Thoreau~

We created RiverviewOnline.com as a way to help Riverview residents preserve the unique spirit that permeates this area, and also as a way to maintain the "small town" atmosphere that is part of Riverview's history.  Our message board is a big part of that effort as it facilitates neighbor-to-neighbor "over the backyard fence" communication.  

If you visit our website often you may have noticed that we repeat the story of Riverview's history often.   This is because we believe that the surest way to safeguard Riverview's future is by continuing to preserve and communicate Riverview's past. 

We encourage everyone who moves to Riverview to learn about its rich history.  We think that the more you know about Riverview the more connected you will feel to this land and the people who have called it home for many generations. 

If you are new here, you should know that you haven't moved "just anywhere."  You've have moved to Riverview.   We hope you will feel as we do, that Riverview has a unique and special spirit and character that is worthy of preservation.  

Respectfully,

John & Terri Bakas
Owners/Webmasters of Riverview Online

 

Map of Riverview

September 3, 2005

Concerned Parents of 
Autistic Children

Riverview Support Group for Parents

       John and I often see postings on RiverviewOnline.com requesting information about how to find services for autistic children. There was an article in the Tampa Tribune last week about a Riverview support group called Concerned Parents of Autistic Children and we want to help get the word out. Please pass this link along to anyone that can use it.   Thanks!

Website link for Concerned Parents of Autistic Children

St. Pete Times article

Tampa Tribune article

Janet Zink's Beer Shed Article - A Must Read

St. Pete Times writer Janet Zink wrote an excellent article in the May 28, 2004, St. Pete Times.  It's about one of Riverview's best kept secrets and most interesting places, the Beer Shed.  

You can also read the article at the St. Pete Times web site at the above link.  The pictures taken by St. Pete Times photographer Toni L. Sandys are also on the web site link above.

The article is very well written. You will get a good feeling of why Riverview, Florida, is a great place to live.  

 

Click on the book photo to purchase the book. [Amazon.com]

"Front Porch: Writer draws on her roots"

By ELIZABETH BETTENDORF 

Published May 7, 2004 in the St. Pete Times Newspaper

Here is the link to a GREAT article by Elizabeth Bettendorf about Norma Goolsby Frazier the leading Riverview (Peru) historian and author of a new book about the area.  The article was written by well-known columnist Elizabeth Bettendorf. Here is a copy of Bettendorf's article:

http://www.sptimes.com/2004/05/07/Brandontimes/Front_Porch__Writer_d.shtml

"Norma Goolsby Frazier still lives on the land her grandfather settled a century ago in Peru. (For those of you with the wrong-headed Yankee tendency to pronounce like the country, it's actually Pee-rue.)    Read more...

Our Favorite Riverview House

1896 Historic Moody Home

The Historic Moody Home was built in 1896
and purchased about 1902 by the grandson of Riverview's first pioneer, Benjamin Moody. 

Moody House

The Historic Moody House was built in 1896 and bought by WB (Ben) Moody in 1905. It was the home of Mary Moody, his daughter born in 1901, for virtually all her life. She died, I believe, in the 1990s.

What makes the house a community treasure is its long association with the Moody family who are the descendants of the first settler in his area, Benjamin Moody, who arrived in what is now Riverview in 1842.

1842 Benjamin Moody First Settler In This Area

In 1842, Benjamin Moody had just finished a tour of duty in the U.S. military fighting the Seminoles and thought this area would be a good place to put down roots. So the first settler was an ex-military man who was just ending his tour of duty. Sounds like many of the families you know today, doesn't it? He received a military pension until his death in 1896.

Benjamin Moody was prominent in this area for many years, serving on the first board of county commissioners, helping to found the first church, the Riverview United Methodist church, and helping to start the first school.

Benjamin Moody's son, his grandson WB (Ben) Moody, and his great granddaughter Mary Moody, all lived in the house. WB (Ben) Moody moved into the house in 1905 and then his father came to live with them in 1915.

The Moody family continued to be leaders in the community. Benjamin Moody's son operated the Alafia Hotel and his grandson, WB (Ben Moody) was also a cattle rancher among his other business interests.

Mary Moody Remembers Riverview

Mary Moody lived in the house until the 1990s, and she remembered Riverview when there was only a ferry to take you across the Alafia, and when US 301 was known as the Tampa Road, or the 9 Foot Brick Road because of its width, and even the Wire Road because of the single telephone wire strung along the telephone poles by the side of the road. Her father, WB (Ben) Moody, owned the first automobile in the area, a Buick, and her family had one of the first local telephones.

Mary Moody graduated from the University of Tampa in 1949 and then began teaching first grade in Riverview. She taught in the two-story Masonic lodge where the school occupied the first floor and the lodge met on the second.

A Graceful Legacy

The Moody House, with its direct ties to the first settler who was also a county-wide leader and a man devoted to family and his church, is a graceful reminder that Moody's vision for Riverview deserves our respect. His efforts occurred without the support of 30,000 neighbors. His work for the community occurred when he was the first and when there were only a few. Do the thousands of us who live here now owe less simply because we are so many?

It is not an irony that as Riverview grew, and first one modern building and then another was built around the Moody House, it continued to stand alone, passing on to us that link to the first pioneer.

[Material for this article was taken from a series of fascinating historical columns by Aleta Jonie Maschek in the 1980s and printed in The Shopper Observer News. These six volumes of local history are at the downtown library and, I think, I saw them at the Brandon Regional library.]

Welcome to Riverview, Florida!

A Greater Alafia River Community

Riverview is Located in Hillsborough County, Florida
just South of Tampa in the Great Old USA! 
Map of Riverview

RiverView Online is owned and operated by
Riverview residents John and Terri Bakas

RiverView Online does not collect any information from our visitors. 
Enjoy!

                                                                              
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John W. Bakas
Florida Attorney
Tampa &
Brandon, FL

Riverview Resident

JBakas.com