When you’re building a railroad to nowhere, how do you make the journey worthwhile? …. If you’re railroad magnate Henry Bradley Plant, in the midst of the sand swamps that would be Tampa, you construct the most astonishingly magnificent hotel of its day, then fill it with treasures from around the world. With its splendid Moorish architecture, opulent furnishings, and spectacular tropical gardens, Plant’s Tampa Bay Hotel attracted a host of celebrated guests, from Teddy Roosevelt to Sarah Bernhardt to Babe Ruth. A visit to the Henry B. Plant Museum and the authentically restored rooms of the Tampa Bay Hotel will transport you back to a time of indulgent 10-course meals, waltzing on the verandah and alligator hunting by moonlight.…The journey is still worthwhile.

The Henry B. Plant Museum interprets the turn-of-the-century Tampa Bay Hotel and the Victorian lifestyles of America's Gilded Age for people of all ages, backgrounds, and levels of interest. Critical to the success of this mission is the restoration and preservation of this National Historic Landmark, an opulent 1891 railroad resort and the artifacts significant to its history and the life and work of Henry Bradley Plant. Through these activities, educational exhibits and events, the Museum transports the visitor to the late Victorian period, the beginnings of Florida's tourist industry, and the early years of the City of Tampa.

The Henry B. Plant Museum is housed in the 1891 Tampa Bay Hotel, now a National Historic Landmark. The building was bought by the city in 1904 after the death of Henry Plant in 1899. It operated as a hotel until 1930. In 1933, the Tampa Municipal Museum was established in order to preserve the legacy of the Tampa Bay Hotel. The museum houses original furnishings and art objects collected by Mr. and Mrs. Plant from Europe and the Orient. Tampa Municipal Museum became The Henry B. Plant Museum in 1974.