“You can't miss Carpenters Run. The houses are painted mustard, lime, coral and Smurf blue. Their eaves twinkle with Christmas lights. Their front yards are adorned with artificial bushes pruned in the shapes of dinosaurs,
dachshunds and ballerinas.”
That’s how St. Petersburg Times’ writer Hal Lipper described the Lutz, Florida community Carpenter’s Run when Johnny Depp and the Edward Scissorhands’ film crew came to call. While the people of Lutz today still occasionally enjoy basking in their town’s 15-minutes of fame, they continue to struggle with the same issues facing many northern Tampa Bay communities:
growth, traffic, congestion…and more growth.
Like many other “citied up” rural areas, Lutz still manages to hold onto some of its small town charm and appeal, although those who know the community’s past say its harder than ever to recognize. The city hosts many popular community fairs and holiday celebrations to help people feel connected and to celebrate their roots. At the heart of its downtown area on the corner of Sunset Lane and U.S. 41 sits the old Lutz Schoolhouse, a red-brick treasure from 1925—and the last original Lutz structure still standing. Also nearby is a replica of the town’s first train depot, named Lutz Station by William Lutz, an engineer with the Tampa Northern Railroad. Although the town was originally called North Tampa, its name was changed to Lutz when residents won the right to a post office. Some folks still tell tales of how their grandparents cruised their Model Ts down Lutz’s rutted roads, now asphalt and growing wider and wider. The six-lane U.S. 41,
which runs north and south through town, was, not too long ago, a two-lane road.
Lutz Schools
Lutz schools are some of the best in Hillsborough County. Lutz Elementary, Maniscalo Elementary, McKitrick Elementary—all “A” schools. Schwarzkopf Middle, Martinez Middle—also “A” schools. Lutz is also served by one Pasco County School, Denham Oakes Elementary, also an “A” school. A new high school is slated to open in 2009; currently Lutz high school students attend nearby Sickles, Gaither or Alonso High. Lutz is also home to the Learning Gate Community School, a unique K-8 public school that provides a “fresh approach” to education, including “brain-based” instruction in a country setting and with an environment reminiscent of the one-room school house of yesteryear. The school is committed to ecology and the environment, and thus offers students unique learning opportunities by way of an organic garden, wetlands area,
butterfly garden and backyard habitat, and an aquatic observation and research deck
