Tampa’s Ybor City district was founded in 1885 by cigar manufacturer Vicente Martinez Ybor, who relocated his operations there from Key West, drawing thousands of Cuban, Spanish, and Italian immigrant workers and rapidly transforming Tampa into the self-proclaimed Cigar Capital of the World, producing hundreds of millions of hand-rolled cigars annually at its peak in the early 20th century. This immigrant workforce brought with it a strong tradition of mutual aid societies, community clubs that provided healthcare, social services, and cultural life for members, several of which still operate in Ybor City today.
Cuban revolutionary leader Jose Marti visited Tampa multiple times in the 1890s to rally support and raise funds for Cuban independence from Spain among the city’s substantial Cuban exile community, a connection Tampa still commemorates through statues and named landmarks throughout Ybor City.
A Port City Reshaped by Bridges and a Changing Economy
Tampa’s cigar industry declined substantially through the mid-20th century as manufacturing automated and shifted elsewhere, and the city’s economy gradually diversified into shipping, finance, and tourism, its position on Tampa Bay remaining a significant natural harbour throughout. The Sunshine Skyway Bridge, connecting Tampa Bay’s shores since 1987, rebuilt after a catastrophic 1980 collapse when a freighter struck the original bridge in fog, remains one of the longest cable-stayed bridges in the world.
Tampa’s Cuban sandwich, a specific combination of ham, roast pork, salami, cheese, and pickles on Cuban bread, is fiercely defended locally as a Tampa invention distinct from Miami’s version, a rivalry that remains a genuine point of civic pride.
Painting a City Built on Cigars and Immigration
Ybor City’s ornate brick cigar factories and wrought-iron balconies give a watercolourist rich historical texture and warm colour to work with. We’ve captured that character in our own Tampa Watercolor Print, painted first by hand and printed to order on archival paper, a small piece of Florida for a wall at home.
Built by immigrant hands rolling cigars by the millions, Tampa remains a city whose modern skyline stands on foundations laid by workers who came from considerably further afield than Florida.