Publix Mural in Redevelopment Area Won't Be Saved

The recognizable Publix Supermarket mural located in the Terrace Plaza shopping center will soon be just a memory. The mural will face the bulldozers when the last tenant vacates the last original strip in the downtown redevelopment area.

Despite efforts from local residents, the mural can’t be saved. Publix spokeswoman Shannon Patten said the grocery store chain had numerous murals through the years but has been unable to keep them.

Dee Griffith, Temple Terrace resident and volunteer, has tried to save the mural.

“There’s got to be a way to preserve it,” she said.

Griffith contacted Temple Terrace Fire Captain Carl Sullivan, who helped her through the years with “Paint Your Heart Out Temple Terrace.” Sullivan, together with members of Temple Terrace Fire E11 A shift, washed the mural by hand so not to damage the finish. Participants were Sullivan, engineer Micheal Brown, and firefighters Thomas Loughlin and Clifford Young.

Griffith then contacted photographer Tom Allison and asked him to take a panoramic photograph, which could be used to make a painting to depict the mural.

Publix at Terrace Plaza opened Feb. 22, 1968 and closed Sept. 1, 1999. The following day, the  opened.

Former Temple Terrace Mayor Joe Bondi recalled “The Publix” at Terrace Plaza as the center of the community.

“The former Touchton Liggett Rexall Drug store with its lunch counter and soda fountain was on the northeast corner of Busch Boulevard and 56th Street,” he said. “Casey’s Barbershop was to the south. Lots of memories.”

Rick Tyler, manager at the Busch Boulevard Publix, grew up in Temple Terrace and attended Junior High and . Tyler was assistant manager at the Terrace Plaza Publix for three and a half years. It was then the largest grocery store in the city. Royal Castle occupied the corner near where Burger King is now, Tyler said.

A larger in the late 1980s. Although some customers began shopping at this new store, the downtown location remained the favorite of many residents who grew up in Temple Terrace, Tyler said.

The mural that is left on the last strip in the downtown redevelopment area is dated 1978 by artist Pati Mills. Patten said approximately 100 murals were created on Publix storefronts. The design varied, depending on community desires or what the shopping center represented.

The mural is made of 4-by-4-inch white field tile and is approximately 7 feet high and 62 feet wide. The painted tile mural depicts a farm, tractor and an orange grove representative of the 5,000 acres of Temple oranges originally planted in Temple Terrace. Wines, cheeses, a cornucopia and basket overflowing with fruits and vegetables represented all things found at the local Publix.

Publix no longer has murals on their storefronts, Patten said.

“Over the years, many have tried to preserve them in some way, but it’s just not possible,” she said. “The tiles crumble and break because they are dried and brittle due to the length of time they have been on the building.”

Publix does not have any pieces from any of their murals.

“We couldn’t save the mural tiles, but this piece of our city’s history can now be preserved through art,” Griffith said.