Cox's Sporting Goods, Tampa, FL

Grover Cox is credited with being the first Floridian to make a commerically available wooden lure. His sporting goods business started out by selling bicycles. He later added his Tampa Minnows to his Tampa Tribune newspaper ads. His lures were sold out of his Sporting Goods shop in the the late 1910's through the early 1920's. In 1922 he stopped making his minnows, but continued to run his sporting goods shop. The Tampa City Directory shows the Cox's store location moved four times. From 1912 to 1915, it was located at 907 Franklin St. From 1916 to 1921, the store was located at 201 Polk St. and was at 713 Florida Ave. from 1922 to 1926. The final location was 1106 Tampa St. The Tampa Minnows ads show only the Polk Street address. Grover Cox was born in 1884 and died in 1938.