Cigar City

(Cigar Aficionado) My childhood buddy from Kansas, Jim Norris, had always wanted to see Tampa. OK, that's not true. A cigar vampire, he really wanted to check out Ybor City, Florida, which neighbors Tampa. That, after all, was the city where millions of cigars were rolled at the turn of the last century—and many by hand. Our mutual friend Linda Wood went along for the ride. Two days earlier, she had competed in Tampa's Escape from Fort Desoto sprint triathlon while Jim minded her gear and took photographs of her crossing the finish line. Going to Ybor City was the least she could do. Continued

Photo: "Ybor Cigar Factory, 1916 North Fourteenth Street, Tampa, Hillsborough, FL. ... National Register of Historic Places NRIS Number: 74000641
Significance: The original building was the first brick cigar factory constructed in Tampa in 1886. Vincent Martinez Ybor, its founder, constructed a model city surrounding the factory where the cigar workers resided. The factory was the focal point for the cigar workers who lived in the area called Ybor City. Ybor's building was the largest hand-rolled cigar complex which was typical of a distinct industry and era in the history of Florida. It was unique because it brought industrialization to a predominantly agrarian town. Large numbers of Latins who worked in the factory were introduced into a white Anglo-Saxon based society. The success of the factory stimulated other cigar industries to move to Tampa, making Ybor City the cigar capital of the United States by 1900. In less than twenty years Tampa changed from a small port town to a thriving city. From the steps of the main factory building, Jose Marti, a Cuban patriot and martyr, rallied support for Cuban independence. After the Spanish-American War, these steps were removed to Cuba to become a National Shrine. (Library of Congress).