Tampa honors Frances Henriquez, first woman and first Hispanic city clerk

At an Archives Awareness Week event marking Tampa’s 130th anniversary, City of Tampa staff and community partners paid tribute to Frances Henriquez, the city’s first woman and first Hispanic city clerk, who died March 19 at age 94.

Henriquez joined the City of Tampa in 1954 and rose through the clerk’s office to become deputy city clerk in 1962. When City Clerk William “Bill” Stark resigned in 1973, Mayor Dick Greco appointed Henriquez acting city clerk until an election. She served as city clerk from November 1973 until her retirement in September 1993.

Her tenure included a focus on records management and local preservation. City Clerk’s Office staff said Henriquez initiated a records-management program and that Tampa became the first city in Florida to create a municipal archive during her years in office. The Archives and Records Services Building was dedicated in her honor in 1993.

Henriquez’s oral history, played at the event, recalled early life in Tampa and her path to public service. In the recording she said, “It was a very simple life,” and described growing up in the city and entering municipal work. A City Clerk’s Office staff member said of Henriquez, “She was she was a class all her own, and I just loved her.”

The program noted other formal recognitions: Henriquez received the Josephine Howard Stafford Award in 2014. Speakers at the event urged attendees to increase awareness of local archival holdings and to use the city’s oral-history recordings and preserved documents for research. Organizers framed the tribute as part of a broader Archives Awareness Week schedule of exhibits and programs.

The remarks at the event were commemorative; no formal actions or policy changes were proposed during the presentation. Organizers encouraged the public to attend additional Archives Awareness Week events across the city.