Garfield Devoe Rogers Sr.

Garfield Devoe Rogers Sr. was an entrepreneur, community leader and philanthropist in Tampa and Bradenton, Florida. He founded a life insurance company for blacks during racial segregation in the United States[1] and helped fund the establishment of Rogers Park, Tampa, the first golf course for Tampa's black residents during the segregation era[2] and the second golf course for blacks in Florida after one was established in Miami Gardens.

Rogers died on Feb. 22, 1951 after a long illness. His obituary in the Feb. 23, 1951 Tampa Times is as follows: PROMINENT NEGRO TAKEN BY DEATH, Tampan Since 1933, Headed Insurance Firm. Funeral services for Garfield Devoe Rogers, 66-year-ol Negro business man and prominent worker for racial relation improvements, today were set for 1 p.m. Monday in Bradenton. The president of the Central Life Insurance Co. of Florida, Rogers died yesterday in a local hospital after an extended illness. He resided at 2503 21st. Ave. A native of Upson Co, GA, he had lived in Tampa since 1933. He came to Florida from Georgia in 1906 and went to Bradenton where he was engaged in the undertaking business. While there, he was at one time supervisor of Negro schools of Manatee County. He obtained his early schooling at Thomaston, Ga., and later took correspondence courses in law and real estate brokerage from Washington and Chicago schools. Coming to Tampa in 1933, Rogers assumed presidency of the life insurance firm which then had assets of approximately $45,000. Through the years, he built the company to its present day standing with assets of more than $1,600,000. An outstanding leader in seeking improvements for his race, Rogers took the lead in 1937 to get equal salaries for Negro teachers of Hillsborough County. He was a motivating force in the acquisition of the property which now houses Don Thompson High School. It was through his active interest that a Negro USO was located on Harrison St. in Tampa during the war. The building is now a Negro city recreation center. At the time of his death, he was on the staff of the Southern Regional Council, regional vice president of the National Negro League, on the staff of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the National Urban League, and for many years a director of the Tampa Urban League. For thirty years he served as trustee of the Bethune-Cookman Negro College at Daytona Beach. He was past president of the National Negro Association. Also in Daytona Beach, Rogers was the organizer and president of the Bethune-Volusia beach resort development. In Tampa, he was a chief sponsor of the Negro Central Village housing project in Jackson Heights. A member of the Methodist Church, he was affiliated with the following fraternal organizations: Masons, Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, and American Workman. His name is also listed in the annual edition of Who's Who in Colored America. Survivors are: His widow, Minnie L. Rogers; nine children; two brothers; one sister, and 12 grandchildren. Ray Williams Funeral Home of Tampa is in charge of funeral arrangements. Services will be from the Mount Pleasant ME Church in Bradenton.

On June 7, 1951, the new park built by the City of Tampa Parks Department near Tampa's waterworks on the Hillsborough River was named in his honor. It was dedicated in a ceremony on June 17, 1951.

Rogers Garden Park Apartments, a segregated public housing project built in 1953 on 13th Avenue West between First Street and Ninth Street West, was also named for Rogers Sr. and was known as the Rogers Project. It was eventually demolished and the site is now home to the G.D. Rogers Garden Elementary School. Juneteenth celebrations have taken place on the site to commemorate its history and significance to the black community. It included about 180 2 and 3 bedroom units and was Bradenton’s first public housing. Home to cooks, maids, field workers, and teachers, it was close to Ninth Avenue West, a corridor of black businesses, and the Palms of Bradenton on the other side of First Street was showplace for black entertainers like James Brown and Etta James. Rent for the apartments was once about $22 a month.[3]

In April 2013 a bust of Rogers was added along the Tampa Riverwalk.