Ybor City

Although fine cigars are synonymous with Cuba, for a few decades in the early twentieth century, Tampa Bay’s Ybor City surpassed Havana as the cigar capital of the world.

Manufacturers moved to Key West in the late 1860s to avoid paying ...

National Historic Landmark - Ybor City Historic District

Founded in 1886, Ybor City is significant in Spanish and Cuban American immigration history. The district is also of importance in American industrial history, for it contains the largest collection of buildings related to the cigar industry in America and ...

Ybor City Museum State Park

Don Vicente Martinez Ybor came to the frontier near Tampa and built a city that became the "Cigar Capital of the World." From the opening of the first cigar factory in 1886 until the 1930s, Ybor City flourished. This urban ...

The Birth Of Ybor City

In Oct. 1885, John T. Lesley sold to V. Martinez Ybor & Co. the first tract of land on which was built the original Ybor City. Purchased for $9,000 cash, Tampa citizens underwrote $4,000 of this amount to the new ...

Site of First Ybor City Railroad Station

1887

The station of the Plant System was located here in the early days of this budding tobacco center. During the struggle for Cuban Independence Ybor City became a nest of insurgents. Through this station passed conspirators, spies, and many notable ...

Ybor City's First Fire Station

1888

The Mirta Hook and Ladder Volunteer Fire Station was established on this site. The station was named in honor of the youngest daughter of Don Vicente Martinez Ybor, founder of Ybor City. Capt. Frank Puglisi headed the fire fighters. Volunteer ...

Ybor City Historic District

Vincente Martinez-Ybor, a wealthy Spanish cigar manufacturer from New York and Key West, began development of Ybor City in 1885. On April 12, 1886, 500 Cuban cigar-makers boarded the sidewheeler Hutchinson in Key West and sailed for Tampa. Over 3,000 ...