Marti asks cigar makers to support revolution

(Ocala.com) The name “Jose Marti” had little meaning to the public in the summer of 1892 when he came to Ocala with a delegation of Cuban exiles to address workers in the new cigar manufacturing industry that was just beginning to show some success.
Ocalans were introduced to the art of rolling cigars during the Semi-Tropical Exposition, which had closed its doors for good earlier in the year after what amounted to a two-year run. The cigar-making exhibit was one of the hits of the massive multi-county fair based in a huge new building on West Broadway (now West Silver Springs Boulevard).
Local investors, always looking for new ways to make money, quickly saw profits that could be made from establishing a cigar industry, and they set about attracting Cuban refugees skilled in the art of rolling cigars. Continued

Photo: "Jose Marti with supporters of the Cuban revolution, on the steps of the Ybor-Manrara cigar factory, 1891." (tampapix.com)