Vicente Martinez Ybor

Spanish-born entrepreneur and founder of Ybor City, Florida

• Born: September 7, 1818
• Birthplace: Valencia, Spain
• Died: December 14, 1896
• Place of death: Ybor City, Florida

An entrepreneur in the nineteenth-century hand-rolled cigar industry, Ybor established the town of Ybor City on the outskirts of Tampa, Florida, as a modified company town to support his cigar factory. He encouraged other cigar makers to locate there, transforming his small hamlet into the “Cigar Capital of the World.” His management style encouraged the preservation of Cuban heritage, helping to create a unique Cuban American culture.

Early Life

Vicente Martinez Ybor (EE-bohr) was born on September 7, 1818, in Valencia, Spain. He migrated in 1853 to Havana, Cuba, where he founded his first cigar factory. There, skilled workers hand-rolled cigars from tobacco leaves for Ybor’s brand, El Principe de Gales (The Prince of Wales).

The cigar venture was a financial success. By the 1880’s, Ybor had become a supporter of Cuban independence from Spain. As revolutionary violence intensified, Ybor feared that his support for independence might lead to his arrest, so he joined thousands of his fellow Cubans in exile in Key West, Florida. Ybor built a new cigar factory and soon was back in business. A series of violent strikes and a disastrous fire that destroyed much of Key West’s business district forced Ybor to move his operations up the coast to Tampa in 1886.

Life’s Work

Ybor and his partner, Eduardo Manrara, reestablished his cigar factory in a section of Tampa that would become known as Ybor City as other cigar makers set up business there, making Tampa famous as the “Cigar Capital of the World.” In the spring of 1886, two hundred cigar workers and their families arrived. To connect Ybor City to nearby Tampa, Ybor and Manrara founded the Tampa Street Railway Company, which was 3 1/2 miles long and provided vital access for the cigar factories to the port at Tampa. By December, 1886, Ybor’s factory was producing 900,000 hand-rolled cigars per month.

Ybor’s plan was to create a modified version of the company town. In contrast to most company towns, in which workers and their families rented housing from the company and shopped in company stores, Ybor believed that workers should own their own homes. Ybor built small shotgun houses (casitas), which he sold to his employees at a price slightly above cost, and allowed them to pay for their new homes through payroll deductions. He also encouraged retail shops, laundries, and other small businesses to set up shop to provide for all the needs of his town’s residents. Rapid growth began to close the gap of scrub land that separated Ybor City and Tampa, and in 1887 Ybor City was annexed. It was officially named the Fourth Ward, but residents continued to know it as Ybor City.

Ybor believed that these efforts would result in a permanent, stable labor force for his factory and end the practice of workers returning to Cuba periodically. Ybor also encouraged other cigar makers to move their operations to Ybor City, so that he could benefit from an increased labor pool. As an incentive, he offered a discount on land and a free building to prospective factory owners who agreed to create a certain number of jobs. Cigar makers in New York, Key West, and Cuba were quick to see the advantages of relocation, and soon Ybor City boasted a dozen cigar factories and related businesses, laundries, and hundreds of Cuban families.

Cuban culture flourished in Ybor City. Cuban restaurants, two Spanish-language newspapers, and the nature of work in the cigar factories reinforced the Cuban way of life. In the factories, workers joined the unions and mutual aid societies that were common in Havana and continued the tradition of the lectores (readers), who read aloud from a wide variety of materials as the cigar makers rolled the leaves. Because the workers rolled the cigars by hand, the workplace was quiet. Newspapers, novels, and political tracts all were popular and provided education along with entertainment.

Ybor ran his operation as a patron, or father figure, taking a personal interest in the lives of his workers. He often served as godfather to children, readily offered cash advances to workers who had fallen on hard times, or paid funeral costs when necessary. In return, Ybor expected a compliant and grateful work force. Ybor also supported the cause of Cuban independence in the 1890’s as the workers of Ybor City organized themselves into juntas and reveled in patriotic speeches and fund-raising. After Ybor’s death in 1896, the cigar industry underwent a period of consolidation during which the patronage style of management gave way to industrialized production, and ownership of the factories shifted to large corporations.

Significance

Ybor left behind a lasting legacy in Ybor City. Although the cigar industry eventually faded, the town that he founded allowed Cuban culture to blend with American culture and traditions to create a unique place and people. In recognition of its special character, Ybor City has been designated a National Historic Landmark District.

Bibliography

Lastra, Frank. Ybor City: The Making of a Landmark Town. Tampa: University of Tampa Press, 2006. This rambling account of Ybor City from its founding to the 1980’s includes information on Ybor.

Mormino, Gary, and George E. Pozzeta. The Immigrant World of Ybor City: Italians and Their Latin Neighbors, 1885-1985. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 1998. Although focused on Italian immigrants, this scholarly study includes a great deal of information about Ybor and Ybor City.

Pacheco, Ferdie. Ybor City Chronicles. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 1994. A memoir of growing up in Ybor City that provides lengthy descriptions of Cuban culture.