Cigar Monument to Factory Worker - Key West, FL
Posted by: 
neoc1
N 24° 32.998 W 081° 47.734
17R E 419427 N 2715350
The Cigar Monument to Factory Worker honoring Arturo Fuente Sr. is located in Gato Village Pocket Park at 616 Louisa Street in Key West FL.
Waymark Code: WMNQ69
Location: Florida, United States
Date Posted: 04/17/2015
Views: 4
Gato Village Pocket Park contains a monument dedicated to Arturo Fuente Sr and a replica of the façade a cigar workers house. Arturo Fuente Sr. left Cuba in 1902 and spent the next six years living near this spot while learning the art of rolling cigars. He then moved to Tampa and started a small cigar factory. His family owns and operates the largest cigar factory in the world based in the Dominican Republic.
A large metal replica of a Gato cigar as well as a replica of the front of a cigar workers cottage is dedicated the men and women who made Key West the cigar capital of the world in 1890. The vertically oriented cigar bears a Gato cigar label and has metal rods rising from the lit end to simulate cigar smoke.
A plaque at the base of the cigar sculpture is inscribed:
SPONSORED BY THE FUENTE FAMILY
Dedicated to
Arturo Fuente Sr.
who lived in Gato Village and worked at
the Gato Cigar Factory from 1906 - 1912
designed and commissioned by
Patricia Gato Madiedo and Bruce Neff