Overview

  • PRINCIPAL / ADMINISTRATOR:  Bree Beitelschies  

    Phone:  (813) 671-5100
    Fax:  (813) 672-5003

    Student Hours: 7:40 AM to 1:55 PM

    Uniforms: No Uniforms

    Before School Program: No
    After School Program: Yes

School History

  • James Gibson, Sr., became one of the area’s first settlers when he, along with his family, arrived from Greenville, Alabama, in 1884. He homesteaded 150 acres at the mouth of the Alafia River, stretching to the east for approximately a half a mile along the south bank of the river. Other families settled on the north and south sides of the Alafia, some coming from various regions of the United States, others from England, France, and Germany. Mr. Gibson, along with Granville Platt and F.L. Henderson, became trustees of a school erected in 1888.

    The area of Gibsonton, however, grew at the expense of its neighboring communities, swallowing Adamsville, Gardenville, and Garden City. When U.S. 41 was widened from two to four lanes in the mid-1950s, the growth of Gibsonton accelerated. Carnival people and noncarnival people alike were impacted. The Tomainis had to move their restaurant, as it was in the way of the expanding road, and lost some of their land in the process.

    Gibsonton Elementary School erected in 1959 and named after James Gibson, Sr..

    2019 marks 60 years Gibsonton Elementary has served the community for students in grades Pre-Kindergarten through Fifth grade. Additionally, in 2019, Gibsonton Elementary was designated as one of Hillsborough County's Community Schools.