A Brief History: Ybor City and the Cigar
Tampa was little more than a village when Spanish-born Vicente Martinez Ybor arrived in 1886 and established a center for cigar manufacturing. Only two years before, Henry B. Plant had completed railroad connections to Tampa and was in the process of improving the port facilities at Port Tampa. These two factors made the area an ideal location for the development of the cigar industry since Cuban leaf tobacco, the best in the world, could easily be imported; the finished product in the form of cigars could be exported with equal ease. Attracting experienced cigar workers from Spain, Cuba and Italy, Ybor's enterprise quickly established Tampa as "Cigar Capital of the World."

Ybor City, V.M. Ybor's "factory town", began with his purchase of 40 acres two miles north of Tampa. Ybor (then 68) wished to move his operations to Florida's west coast from Key West to escape labor unrest and limitations on space for expansion of the industry. Later in life he indicated that he founded Ybor City with the hope of providing a good living and working environment so that cigar workers would have fewer grievances against owners. Ybor City quickly attracted thousands of immigrant workers: Spaniards, Cubans, Italians, Germans, and Jews. Moving into boarding houses and casitas (cottages built for cigar workers by the manufacturers and sold or rented by a paycheck deduction system), this immigrant population produced a unique socio-cultural environment. Prominent in that environment were the social clubs, whose subscription services included cradle-to-grave health care, death benefits, recreational facilities, and a busy yearly calendar of social events. Organized to serve specific ethnic groups (L'unione Italiana for Italians, El Circulo Cubano for Cubans, Club Marti-Maceo for Afro-Cubans, and so on), the clubs preserved and transmitted the cultural heritage of their members to generation after generation. As impressive architecturally as they were socially, the club buildings testified to the grand ambitions of a rising worker class.

In addition to the social clubs, Ybor City was home to theaters presenting opera, vaudeville, ethnic comedy and drama. This busy neighborhood also supported verbenas del tabaco (community festivals produced by the cigar manufacturers), labor and political organizations, dozens of newspapers, and a wide array of mercantile, artistic, and occupational venues.

The city Ybor founded was, in many respects, an idyllic environment, but in defiance of Ybor's hopes it was not short on labor strife. Despite periodic strikes (and production setbacks caused by the Cuban War of Independence), the young Ybor City grew rapidly and added greatly to the economic prosperity of Tampa. In population, Ybor City quickly outstripped Tampa, increasing the area's prosperity through import duties and the sale of tobacco products.

For many years the cigar industry was the only large-scale manufacturing activity in Tampa. It represented a very important financial resource to the region, one that flourished until the early 1960s, when embargos against Cuban tobacco, combined with declining cigar consumption, finally made "The Cigar City" a thing of the past.

Vicente Martinez Ybor: Founder of Ybor City
Vicente Martinez Ybor was born in Valencia, Spain in 1818. Ybor began manufacturing cigars in Havana, Cuba in 1856, and his brand "El Principe de Gales" ("Prince of Wales") was at one time the most popular cigar label in the world. During Cuba's "Ten Years' War" (one of the many revolts or threatened revolts that rocked Cuba throughout the mid- to late 19th century), Ybor's questionable loyalty to Spain came under scrutiny, and his business enterprises were threatened. Ybor decided to open a factory in Key West, Florida, in 1869. While the climate and proximity to Cuban tobacco sources were excellent in Key West, labor unrest followed the industry to Florida. High emotions, fueled by the political rivalry between Cuban and Spanish workers, produced a stormy 15 years' sojourn for Ybor and his younger partner, Eduardo Manrara. The two began looking for other sites in Florida that might be more productive -- and peaceful -- for locating the cigar trade.

By 1884, transportation magnate Henry Bradford Plant had completed rail service to Tampa, Florida. This was to be the determining factor in V.M. Ybor's decision to relocate his cigar Manufacturing enterprise to the area. With the help of Plant's rail and steamship lines, Ybor could import high-quality tobacco leaf from Cuba, then manufacture and ship cigars to points North, East, and West. In 1886, at the age of 68, Ybor (with Manrara) moved to a scrub area east of the Tampa settlement, where the two began building a "factory town" based on the cigar trade. By October of that year, Ybor and Manrara owned at least 111 acres in Ybor City, and a 1,000 acre tract east of the town. The partners formed the Ybor City Land and Improvement Company to organize the growing settlement and provide such necessary services as firefighters, sanitary arrangements, and peace keeping. Ybor City very quickly attracted thousands of immigrant workers -- Cubans, Spaniards, Germans, Italians, Jews -- and other cigar manufacturers as well. The City eventually boasted 200 cigar factories.

Vicente Martinez Ybor was an enlightened employer. He strove to avoid the crippling labor unrest and strikes that had plagued the cigar industry by providing good wages and many benefits to employees. His home, "La Quinta," was frequently open to workers for parties and picnics, and he tried in many other ways to alleviate the hardships of the needy.

V. M. Ybor can be portrayed as a citizen of three countries: Spain (the land of his birth), Cuba (which he saw as his political and spiritual homeland), and the United States (his adopted nation and the place where he achieved his greatest professional achievements.) Ybor died an American citizen in 1896, and is buried in Oak lawn Cemetery in downtown Tampa.

The Road to Cuban Independence Led Through Ybor City and Tampa
Due to the large number of Cubans living in Ybor City, the area was involved in the struggle for Cuba's independence from Spanish rule. In fact, the very reason that Vicente Martinez Ybor left Cuba was due to his sympathies for the cause of Cuban independence, which brought on the wrath of Spanish authorities. Cuban patriots, most famously Jose Marti, came to Tampa frequently to inspire enthusiasm and generate funds for the movement.

Ybor City residents formed revolutionary clubs and encouraged cigar workers to donate one day's salary each week to the cause. As revolutionary fervor grew in 1895, plans to invade Cuba from U.S. shores were formed and Marti gave the order to invade by smuggling a message into Tampa rolled up in a cigar.

Some of the most active revolutionary supporters were to be found among the women of Ybor City. One of the most notable was Paulina Pedroso, an Afro-Cuban who had moved to the community from Cuba with her husband Ruperto in the late 1880's. Marti stayed with the Pedrosos when he came to Tampa and they went to great lengths to protect him from would-be assassins. Unfortunately, Marti was killed in a battle in Cuba in 1895 and the success of the cause was postponed until 1898.

The precipitating event in 1898, which culminated in war, was the destruction of the USS Battleship Maine in Havana harbor in February of 1898. The explosion caught the attention of the American press, most particularly that of William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer, rivals vying with each other as to who could sell the most newspapers. Known as "yellow journalism", these newspapers wrote lurid and often untrue descriptions of Spanish atrocities and aroused the American public to demand that the U.S. enter the war to support Cuban independence against Spanish rule. The U.S. Congress declared war in April of 1898.

One of the immediate threats to Ybor City was the potential loss of the supply of Cuban tobacco used to produce the cigars. Forward thinking citizens solved the problem by sending a flotilla of ships to Havana, loading the vessels to the gunwales and bringing the cargo back to Tampa, thus ensuring the economic well-being of Ybor City and Tampa.

Another problem that arose was mutual suspicion among the various combatants. The U.S. army posted a spy in Port Tampa to monitor the behavior and mail of Spanish officers. Soldiers were also posted around the Centro Espanol and seized a Cuban meeting hall in West Tampa.

As plans for the war progressed, Tampa was chosen as the major port of embarkation for the Army. The Navy was based in Key West and Tampa was the closest city in possession of both rail and port facilities. Soon thirty thousand soldiers and hundreds of mules descended on Tampa, clogging the rail lines and causing untold confusion. Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders arrived, creating havoc and mayhem. While the officers stayed at the luxurious Tampa Bay Hotel, the enlisted men camped out in Tampa Heights, Palmetto Beach, Desoto Park, Port Tampa and West Tampa. This situation continued for six weeks until the order came from Washington, D.C. for the troops to sail. They finally departed on June 13, 1898.