Historic images that quietly lined the Lee Building for nearly three decades are now preserved, searchable, and ready to inspire a new generation to “See & Remember.”
For nearly three decades, hundreds of historic photographs quietly lined the hallways of Plant City’s Lee Building. Framed and displayed as part of the building’s 1998 renovation, they became familiar fixtures to those who happened to pass by. Yet despite their historical significance, these images remained largely hidden from the broader public, preserved only in their physical form and seen by relatively few visitors over the years.
Today, that has changed.
Thanks to a months-long effort by the Plant City History & Photo Archives, more than 200 photographs from the Lee Building have been carefully digitized, restored for display, and incorporated into one of Florida’s most significant local history collections. The project ensures these pieces of Plant City’s past will be preserved, searchable, and accessible for generations to come.
It is a milestone that perfectly reflects the organization’s enduring motto: “To See & Remember.”
The story of the exhibit begins in 1998, when the Lee Building underwent a major renovation. As part of that effort, historic decoration became a central feature through the acquisition of photographs from two of Plant City’s most respected professional photographers: Mrs. Gladys Jeffcoat and Mr. Bill Friend. Their work documented decades of community life, preserving moments that might otherwise have been lost.
Visitors today can learn more about both photographers through the displays located in the downstairs lobby hallways alongside the elevator, where additional photographs and artifacts celebrate their contributions to documenting Plant City’s story.
Once acquired, the upstairs photographs were meticulously matted and match-framed by Mrs. Lou Baird before being installed throughout the public hallways. For the next 25 to 28 years, they remained on display.
What they never became, however, was digital.
That omission was hardly unusual in 1998. Digital archiving was still in its infancy. Film photography remained the norm, fax machines were commonplace, and few organizations possessed either the technology or foresight to digitize large photographic collections.
As a result, the Lee Building exhibit remained frozen in time.
In early 2026, the Plant City History & Photo Archives undertook the painstaking task of changing that.
Each photograph was carefully removed from its frame and scanned into the organization’s growing digital database. Many of the originals had already faded or developed blemishes long before they were acquired decades ago. Rather than attempting to erase those imperfections, the Archives deliberately preserved the authenticity of each image during the digitization process.
When reproduced for the new canvas display, the photographs were desaturated to minimize aging and sepia discoloration while remaining faithful to the originals. Updated labels were added wherever possible, allowing today’s visitors to better understand the people, places, and moments captured within each frame.
The result is both a preservation project and a renewed public exhibition.
Now headquartered downstairs in the Lee Building, the Plant City History & Photo Archives has grown into an extraordinary historical resource. As of May 31, 2026, its database contains more than 108,500 digitized images, each increasingly searchable and available for historical research or affordable reprints.
That remarkable collection represents decades of volunteer commitment and community stewardship.
The organization itself was founded in 2000 by Ed Verner, Gil Gott, and the late Robert Trinkle, with Verner serving as president since its inception. Together, they established the Archives with a mission that has guided every project since: preserving Plant City’s history so future generations may continue “To See & Remember.”
While Verner is often content to let the work speak for itself, he acknowledges that the Lee Building project became something deeply personal.
“I generally try to keep a low profile at Plant City History & Photo Archives, but on this project, I am proud of how I finally took the reins and did it. Getting these images digitized and added to our files and redisplaying them anew has taken me over two months of off and on work, and my wife is about ready to kill me that it took so much time and obsession to finish.”
The investment of time reflects the significance of the undertaking.
For years, these photographs were enjoyed primarily by those who happened to visit businesses within the Lee Building. Their audience numbered only in the hundreds. Today, they have become part of a permanent digital collection that vastly expands their reach and ensures they will never again exist as forgotten images on a hallway wall.
As Verner explains:
“These pictures were up for over 27 years and were mostly only seen perhaps by a few hundred people as they would visit various businesses located in the Lee Building. Now my hope is they will join our searchable database and be added as a self-guided tour for interested visitors to our collections downstairs. A first-time looker should plan on 30-45 minutes to stroll and have history wash over you. I would challenge anyone not to find at least one picture that makes them ‘See & Remember’ among the over 200 on display.”
That challenge captures the heart of the project.
The Lee Building exhibit is no longer simply a decorative collection. It is now an educational experience, a research tool, and an invitation for residents and visitors alike to reconnect with the people, businesses, streets, and everyday moments that shaped Plant City.
Perhaps just as importantly, the project serves as a reminder that preserving history rarely happens by accident. It requires patience, vision, countless volunteer hours, and a community willing to support the organizations that safeguard its collective memory.
The Plant City History & Photo Archives has invested immeasurable time and resources into preserving local history while making it available to the public at minimal cost. Those interested in supporting that mission are encouraged to visit the Archives downstairs in the Lee Building to learn how they can contribute through volunteer service, financial donations, or simply by becoming part of the effort to preserve Plant City’s story.
After all, history only survives when someone chooses to remember.
And thanks to this remarkable restoration project, more than 200 photographs are once again doing exactly what they were always meant to do: helping us all See & Remember.
