In the early 1800s, Florida was a United Stated territory. It had two courts, one in Saint Augustine for East Florida and the other in Pensacola for West Florida. Like all other states at the time, Florida had only one federal district court when it became a state in 1845.

Florida later was divided into Northern and Southern Districts. Orlando was part of the Southern District. The district’s judges traveled from courthouse to courthouse around the state to hear and to resolve cases.

^{(left to right) A map of Florida, circa 1806; Tampa's United States Post Office and Custom House, circa 1918;
the Sam M.Gibbons United States Courthouse, present day; a map of the counties served by the United States District Court Middle District of Florida, present day}

By the 1960s, the caseload of the Southern District had risen dramatically, and the district suffered the largest backlog of cases in the nation. In 1962, Congress approved the creation of the Middle District of Florida, the first new federal court district created since 1928. In its first decade, the caseload of the Middle District surpassed that of the Southern District.

The Tampa Federal Courthouses

The original Tampa Federal Courthouse was completed in 1905 as a post office. It served as customhouse and post office until 1931 when the building was converted for use as a federal courthouse. The building continued to house the post office until 1984. Granite faced, with classical elements, the original federal building is the oldest significant building in Tampa designed for government use.