Interesting facts about Ybor City Florida

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Florida is known for its tropical weather which has led to a number of plantations for tropical fruits. The favourable weather also led to the establishment of the Ybor City that later on came to be known as the Cigar Capital of the World. Started in 1880s by Cuban exiles Don Ignacio Haya and Don Vicente Martinez Ybor, the largest cigar factory in the world was built here.

Located northwest 2 miles from Tampa, Don Gavino Guttierez discovered this marshland of 40 acres, on his quest for guava trees. Unable to find any, he went to Key West to visit his friends, the Cuban exiles, before he returned to New York where he worked as an engineer. Haya and Ybor wanted to relocate their cigar factories due to labour issues and Guttierez led them to this area.

Some major notable facts about Ybor city Florida are:

The reason for choosing this area to lay out a plant was the connection to a port and railroad along with favourable climate for the Tobacco leaves. The Tampa Board of Trade provided the Haya and Ybor with land and cash to start their factories.

Cigar factories from different parts of the United States such as Key West, Havana and northern US relocated to this city. At a point in time, there were as many as 200 factories, employing 12,000 cigar workers and producing 700 million cigars in a year. The population of Ybor City became 5 times that of Tampa City.

The weather being tropical, diseases borne by mosquitoes were widespread in Ybor City. There had been epidemics of Yellow Fever. The water had to be brought from the Old Government Springs as well water was too coarse to be drunk and too insipid to be irrigated with.

The residents of the city became dependent on organizations such as Unione Italiana and Centro Espanol for social and medical aid. This is the most primitive form of community medicine services in the United States.

Ybor City was incorporated into Tampa City in 1887. However, the residents did not lose their identity from the merger.

The city became a hub for Cubans, Italians and Spaniards and came to be known as Little Havana. A number of clubs, restaurants and recreational spots have developed over the years. Florida’s oldest restaurant, the Colombia Restaurant, is still in operation from this place. It has retained its original wood work beams and architecture in place.

Ybor City became the support centre for the Cuban Revolution. When US went to war with Spain in 1898, a number of soldiers including Teddy Roosevelt were posted in the city. At the end of the war, Cuba won its independence.

A small park has been constructed at one part of the city Ybor City to commemorate the death of Cuban revolutionary and poet, Jose Marti.
Ybor City lost its importance as a cigar manufacturing zone due to the advent of modern technologies, the Great Depression and popularity of cigarettes.

The city of Ybor City is now known as a collection of relics from the bygone days. The lampposts and roads are significantly different from the ones of modern cities. The municipality struggles to maintain the heritage of the city.

Ybor City is one of the many that developed in the past as offshoots of US industrialization. It is a centre of shopping,fine dining, and people watching in Florida.

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