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 probably the world. In addition to factories, the district's buildings include workers' housing; the ethnic clubs organized by Ybor City's immigrants, who included Italians and Germans as well as Cubans and Spaniards, and the commercial buildings that served the community. Most buildings date to the first two decades of the twentieth century. Historically, Ybor City was a rare multi-ethnic and multi-racial industrial community in the Deep South and it is highly illustrative of manifold aspects of the history of ethnic and race relations.

Information provided by the National Registry of Historic Places, a program of the National Park Service

Image courtesy of Ebyabe.