Tampa's YBor City

Got me a terrific little history lesson today- Back in the 1880's or so, Tampa was a sleeply little fishing village of maybe 400 people or so.

Along comes a fellow Mr YBor, who came up this way from Key West, after he had left Cuba because of a revolution there-  Within a short time, the cigar industry had boomed to over 4000 people and Tampa became the epicenter of cigar making in the United States.  The industry flourished until the depression, and then, with the inroads that cigarettes made, faded out in the late 40's and 50's.  The YBor area faded badly, bad crime came in, people left for other work, and the area fell into disrepair. 

Urban renewal decimated the area, and a lot of the buildings were knocked down. Then a dedicated group of folks committed themselves to redoing the area, and today, the YBor city part of Tampa is very vibrant.  I went to the Museum, which is a state park Museum, and they have some restored casitas that the workers lived in- At one time there were several hundred of them- a real company town.

The workers were from several areas, Cubans, both light and dark skinned, Spainards, Germans, and others.  

Within the area, there were several big social clubs that dominated the area culture.  The men would work in the cigar factories from 7 am to 5 pm, go home, change and eat, and then go to the club several nights a week, and on Saturday night, there were dances and entertainers- What a grand life it must have been! 

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This was one of the original social clubs, this one was for folks from Cuba.

This was the original YBor cigar factory building.

A factory scene.  the workers could come and go as they pleased, smoke as many cigars as they liked during the day, and could take cigars home for the evening.  Average pay was 50-70 dollars a week, and a good roller could do 125 cigars a day. 

This is 7th Steet, the Main Drag of town-  There are several cigar stores, eateries, and shops...  pretty cool area. 

I was able to get a pin at the museum.