Vicente Martinez-Ybor - Ybor City, Tampa, FL - Statues of Historic Figures on Waymarking.com

Born in Valencia, Spain on September 7, 1818 and died in Ybor City on December 14, 1896 and buried at Oaklawn Cemetery in downtown Tampa.

In 1853 at an early age the adventurous Spaniard left his native land and traveled to Cuba which was under the dominance of Spain and where he established his first cigar factory and produced ths world renowned "El Principe De Gales" ("The Prince of Wales") brand.

Due to his support for Cuban independence from Spain in 1868 he had to flee Cuba and move to Key West where he opened another factory and continued to manufacture "El Principle De Gales" brand.

2001 by City of Tampa.
(visit link)
In 1885 at the age of 68 he purchased 90 acres of palmetto and scrub pine flats in the hamlet of Tampa and transformed them in 1886 into the city of his dreams that would bear his name. Other prominent cigar manufacturers joined Ybor and eventually Tampa became known as "The Cigar Capital Of The World."

Upon his death the Tampa Weekly Times wrote on December 17, 1896 the following:
"Don Vicente Martinez-Ybor is dead. One of Tampa's greatest benefactors and this country's most prominent and successful businessman."

URL of the statue: [Web Link]

Visit Instructions:
You must have visited the site in person, not online.

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log User Rating   09/23/2016 Markerman62 visited it 12/31/2012 RBCT109 visited it 01/12/2012 petendot visited it 08/09/2009 ChapterhouseInc visited it

View all visits/logs