Off The Beaten Track: Ybor City
From time to time we enjoy a trip off the beaten track to explore parts of Florida we figure other people may enjoy. For many years we have driven past Ybor City on our way to various events in Tampa and St. Petersburg but we have never stopped there.
Just recently we attended the Florida Governor’s Conference on Tourism and with some spare time before the conference began, we took the opportunity to take a closer look at the historical town.
In the early 1880s, Tampa was pretty much an isolated village with a population of less than 1000 and a struggling economy. However, its combination of a good port, Henry Plant’s new railroad line, and a humid climate attracted the attention of Vicente Martinez Ybor, a prominent Spanish-born cigar manufacturer. Ybor had moved his cigar-making operation from Cuba to Key West in 1869, due to political turmoil in the then-Spanish colony. Labor unrest and the lack of room for expansion had him looking for another base of operations and Ybor considered several communities in the southern United States before deciding that an area of sandy scrubland just northeast of Tampa would be his best location. In 1885, the Tampa Board of Trade helped broker an initial purchase of 40 acres of land, and Ybor quickly grabbed even more.
Cigar making was very much a specialized trade, and Tampa did not possess a workforce able to man the new factories so in order to attract employees, Ybor built hundreds of small “Casita” houses for the coming influx of mainly Cuban and Spanish cigar workers, many of whom followed him from Key West and Cuba. Other cigar manufacturers, drawn by incentives provided by Ybor to further increase the labor pool, also moved in, quickly making Tampa a major cigar production center.
Italians were also among the early settlers of Ybor City and most of them came from a few villages in southwestern Sicily. They mainly settled in the eastern and southern fringes of the city and the area became known as La Pachata, after a Cuban rent collector in that area. It was also known as “Little Italy.”
Perhaps the least known of the immigrants that came to Ybor City are the Germans, the Romanian Jews, and the Chinese. The Chinese and Jews were employed mainly in service trades and retail businesses while the Germans, who arrived after the 1890s, were mostly businessmen.
Ybor City grew and prospered during the first decades of the 20th Century and thousands of residents built a community that combined Cuban, Spanish, Italian, and Jewish culture. One aspect of life were the mutual aid societies built and sustained mainly by ordinary citizens. These clubs were founded in Ybor’s early days with the first being Centro Español which was established in 1891, and they were run on dues collected from their members, usually 5% of a member’s salary. In exchange, members and their whole family received services including free libraries, educational programs, sports teams, restaurants, numerous social functions like dances and picnics, and free medical services. Beyond the services, these clubs served as extended families and communal gathering places for generations of Ybor’s citizens.
Naturally, there were clubs for each ethnic division in the community – the Deutscher-Americaner Club (for German and eastern Europeans), L’Unione Italiana (for Italians), El Circulo Cubano de Tampa (for light-skinned Cubans), La Union Marti-Maceo (for darker-skinned Cubans), El Centro Español (for Spaniards), and the largest, El Centro Asturiano, which accepted members from any ethnic group
Cigar production reached its peak in 1929, when 500 million cigars were rolled in the factories of Ybor City but a slow exodus out of the area began during the Great Depression. The exodus then accelerated after World War II as worldwide demand plummeted as consumers sought to cut costs by switching to less-expensive cigarettes, and factories had no choice but to respond by laying off workers or shutting down. That ultimately led to a period of abandonment and decay and by the early 1970s, very few businesses and residents remained in the area.
In the early 1980s, an influx of artists seeking interesting and inexpensive studio quarters started a slow recovery. The early 1990s, saw many of the old long-empty brick buildings on 7th Avenue being converted into bars, restaurants, nightclubs, and other nightlife attractions. Since around 2000, the city of Tampa and the Ybor City Chamber of Commerce have encouraged a broader emphasis in development and with financial help from the city, Centro Ybor, a family-oriented shopping complex and movie theater, opened in the former home of the Centro Español social club. Further, new apartments and condominiums have been built on long-vacant lots and old buildings have been restored and converted into residences and hotels.
Today, Ybor is a vibrant place and well worth a visit for those staying in Central Florida to take in the true history of Ybor, which has now been designated as Tampa’s National Historic Landmark District. With several of the areas structures are also listed in the National Register of Historic Places it’s a place that has something interesting to see on literally every street corner.
7th Avenue is the most popular street but the whole area itself is littered with many popular restaurants, shops and the odd cigar shop. A wander around many of the areas other streets will reap rewards as you come across some important landmarks. Along the way, you can see many statues such as the Don Vincente Martinez-Ybor statue (pictured above), the great benefactor mentioned earlier who came to the area in 1885. Ybor Centennial Park opened in 1986 and is the place to visit to see homage paid to Mr. Ybor, Immigrants, Mayor Nick C. Nucciom, the first Italian Mayor of Tampa and Anthony P. “Tony” Pizzo, the official historian of Hillsborough County from 1982 to 1994. All important figures and people who played a vital role in creating the community.
The Fallen Heroes Memorial Park (pictured above) is another interesting place to visit being relatively new having only been opened to the public in 2014. The park is a place that local people and visitors go to to pay respect and honor to those that protect our communities.
Jose Mari Park (pictured above) is another interesting park mainly because it actually belongs to the Republic of Cuba. A recorded deed from 1957 in Hillsborough County records that fact!
The oldest and largest Spanish restaurant in the United States can also be found in Ybor City. The Columbia Restaurant opened in 1905 and has received critical acclaim ever since. The restaurant was named a “Top 50 All-American icon” by “Nation’s Restaurant News” magazine. We didn’t get time to dine there unfortunately but you should also know that there are several other great dining choices include Carmine’s and Gaspar’s Grotto that both do some of the greatest Cuban sandwiches you’ll ever eat!
For the most part, Ybor City still uses the gridded street system laid out by Gavino Guiterrez in 1885 and that makes getting around very easy. Many of the roadways are now paved with modern materials, though a few brick streets remain. A great way to get around is by utilizing the The TECO Line Streetcar System, which links Ybor City, the Channelside District and Downtown Tampa, which began operating in October 2002.
Ybor City is a great place to visit. We’d suggest visiting in mid to late afternoon and staying on for dinner where you can then see the town come alive at nighttime! It’s an easy drive from all of Florida Leisure Vacation Homes houses and will take less than an hour from all locations.
More photos from Ybor at www.FloridaLeisurePhotography.com
