Description
Joseph Thomas Harris brought his family from Winston County, Mississippi and settled near Brandon Florida in 1891. His dream was to patent his invention, a mattress making machine, that could produce mattresses more efficiently than current machines of the day. His family would work in the breweries and cigar factories in Tampa before and after Prohibition. His grandson, Durward Henderson Harris Sr. and wife Pauline (Childers) Harris, would raise their children and build one of the first restaurants in Brandon at a time when the small town was growing just ten miles east of Tampa. Harris Restaurant was the meeting place of the newly formed Brandon Chamber of Commerce as well as many civic clubs in the 1950s and 1960s. Harris Restaurant became the gathering place where new ideas for local town growth began. This is also the story of a close-knit family that endured many challenges and tragedies, yet also experienced many joys of celebrations for generations.
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