Ariel View of Ybor City, circa 1900 (University of Florida Digital Collections; George A Smathers Libraries)
Founded in the 1880's by Key West cigar maker, Vicente Martinez Ybor, Ybor City became the "Cigar Capitol of the World" with hundreds of cigar factories rolling more than four hundred million cigars a year.
From the hundreds of factories that existed in Ybor City, only a handfull of the beautiful brick buildings still stand in various Tampa neighborhoods. Of this handfull, only one is still used to manufacture cigars. Two other buildings still house cigar related businesses. The others have either been refurbished and re-purposed or sadly, lie vacant.
With the following articles, I have tried to document the grandness of these remaining buildings in their heyday and also show them as they are today.
Berriman - Morgan Cigar Factory
Bustillo Brothers Cigar Factory
The "Charles the Great" Factory
Corral Wodsika y Ca Cigar Factory
Cyrilla Cigar, Samuel L. Davis and Tierra del Lago Cigar Factories
Perfecto Garcia Brothers Cigar Factory
San Martin & Leon Cigar Factory
Seidenberg and Co Cigar Factory
Y. Pendas & Alvarez Cigar Factory
Take a Self Guided Tour of the Factories
Interesting Websites
Comments
I found an old Charles the Great Cigar box from the Salvador Rodriguez Company stamped with John M. Henderson's signature, Tampa City Clerk from 1898-1907 in my home and was interested in reading your article about the Salvador Rodriguez Cigar factory when it becomes available in February. I found a photo of the old factory as well and was just interested in the history.
Thanks for your interest in my series. I have found it interesting how certain cigar companies moved from one factory to the other through out the years. I'm still doing a little research on the Salvador Rodriguez factory. sometimes, there isn't a lot of data available online and I have to use other resources.
Wow, this is going to take a lot of research! Thanks for the effort, it's interesting reading.
Thank you for reading! It's a lot of research but, I enjoy it and find Ybor City's history very interesting.
Excellent articles. Lots of research!
Wow, what an undertaking! Nice
Thank you for this information. I am trying to find info about a cigar factory at which my grandparents work. My mother said it was called El Paraiso. I found a cafe by that name and a company in Miami. Any ideas? I was also looking for the Standard Cigar Factory in Palmetto Beach (22nd ave south of Ybor). Is that the one under Cuesta Rey?
Hi Lori, Thank you for reading my series of articles. I hope you are enjoying them! I will see what I can dig up on the El Paraiso name. It has not come across in my research to date. As far as Standard Cigar Factory, there are two factories on S. 22nd Street in Palmetto Beach, one is La Corina and the other was used by several cigar companies, including Salvador Rodriguez I posted a photo of that factory in my "Charles the Great" article. The only reference to Standard Cigar Factory that I have founs pertains to a building in the Pittburgh, PA area.
The Standard Cigar Company was a name that J.C. Newman went by when they first came to Ybor City. There factory is on 16th Street and my article on this building will probably be used to end the series.
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