By JAMIE PILARCZYK

Ralph Brower, 44, became intrigued by the subject of history from his Robinson High School teacher, the late Newton Heuberger.

“He was one of those instructors who makes you fall in love with a subject. He made me see that history isn’t about dates and numbers, it’s about names and faces and stories,” said Brower. “I couldn’t help but attach myself to history.”

Brower said it was the personal touches Heuberger added, like the stories he told of playing pranks on the conductors of the light rail in Tampa, that grabbed his interest.

While Brower sells homeowner’s insurance professionally, he still pursues history as a hobby. Most recently, he was asked by Turner Publishing to write the text to accompany the more than 200 Burgert Brothers photos collected for “Historic Photos of Tampa.”

Published in late October and available now in most local book stores for about $40, Brower chronicles the history of Tampa by adding clips to each of the photos in the book.

“There are history books with photos splashed in,” said Brower about previous collections on the same theme. “This is a photo book with some history splashed in. This is a pure attempt to show the pictorial history of Tampa,” which in this book spans from the mid 1880s through the modern era.

The book was the brainchild of Turner Publishing, which has produced 32 in the series on different cities throughout the nation. The next to come out are on Minneapolis, Cleveland and Anaheim.

Photos are chosen by Turner Publishing and then a local librarian or writer is picked to add the details. For the Tampa book, finding the photos was unusually easy since the Friends of the Library own the Burgert Brothers collection, after purchasing it in 1974. The Burgert family had a studio on Jackson Street where three generations made their living in photography.

Through a friend in the Friends group who were familiar with Brower’s writing (he has written two novels that he is working to get published and does a lot of technical writing professionally), they connected Brower with Turner. Six weeks later, the book was done.

“I knew something of Tampa because I’ve spent most of my life here,” said Brower, who grew up in South Tampa but currently resides in North Tampa. “But, you think you know something until you start researching it. I spent a lot of hours researching, deciphering fact from legend.”

The experience made Brower appreciate events in the past and wonder about the outcomes if things like the Depression had not occurred.

“The Depression torpedoed the cigar industry. Machine-made cigars were cheaper than hand-rolled, so a lot of the industry moved to New York where it was less expensive,” said Brower, wondering how the face of Tampa would be different if the boom remained on Tampa turf.

Months later, after the research has been complete and his copy of “Historic Photos of Tampa” sits on his own coffee table, Brower said he is appreciative of the experience.

“The photos are so remarkable,” said Brower. “I walked away amazed.”