Vicente Martinez Ybor, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetVicente Martinez Ybor
Spanish-American industrialist
Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: Valencia, Valencian Community, Spain
About Vicente Martinez Ybor
- Vicente Martinez-Ybor (7 September 1818 - 14 December 1896), was a Spanish entrepreneur who first became a noted industrialist and cigar manufacturer in Cuba, then Key West, and finally Tampa, Florida. Martinez-Ybor is best known for his founding the immigrant-populated cigar manufacturing town of Ybor City just outside Tampa, Florida in 1885.
- It was annexed by Tampa in 1887 and was a major factor in the community's rapid development from a small town into one of the largest cities in Florida and, for a time, the world's leader in cigar manufacturing.
- In addition to his Principe de Gales line of Cuban cigars, he founded many other businesses in Tampa including an insurance company, street paving, gas stations, a streetcar line, and Tampa's first brewery.
- For his workers, he built and sold hundreds of affordable homes, brought doctors to the area, and converted his original cigar factory into a social hall and theater for Tampa's first mutual aid society, El Centro Español de Tampa.
- His business interests were integral to the rapid expansion of the Port of Tampa and Tampa's overall economy.When Martinez-Ybor died in 1896, much of Tampa closed down to attend his funeral.
- He has been honored with a statue in Ybor City and a bust on the Tampa Riverwalk.
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