This landmark gatewaywas made possible by the efforts and support from the following entities:
City of Tampa
City of Tampa Community Redevelopment Administration
United States Department of Commerce
TECO energy
Ybor City Development Corporation
architect: Cooper Johnson Smith Architects, Inc
Contractor: Apollo Construction and engineering Services, Inc
January 2000
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Ybor City, Tampa, Florida
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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This article is about the historic neighborhood in Tampa, Florida. For the cigar manufacturer for which it was named, see Vicente Martinez Ybor.
Ybor City (pronounced /'i?b?r/) (EE-borh) is a historic neighborhood in Tampa, Florida located just northeast of downtown. It was founded in the 1880s by cigar manufacturers and was populated by thousands of immigrants, mainly from Spain, Cuba, and Italy. For the next 50 years, workers in Ybor City's cigar factories would roll millions of cigars annually.
The neighborhood had features unique among contemporary immigrant communities in the southern United States, most notably its multi-ethnic and multi-racial population [1]. A slow exodus out of the area accelerated after World War II, leading to a period of abandonment and decay. After decades of neglect, a portion of the original neighborhood was redeveloped into a popular night club and entertainment district. One of the five campuses of Hillsborough Community College is located there as well, HCC Ybor.
The neighborhood has been designated as a National Historic Landmark District, and several structures in the area are listed in the National Register of Historic Places. In 2008, 7th Avenue, the main commercial thoroughfare in Ybor City, was recognized as one of the “10 Great Streets in America” by the American Planning Association [2].
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