Accessibility
Florida State Parks are in various stages of accessibility, and are working to improve access to services and facilities. Should you need assistance to enable your full participation, please contact the individual park office as soon as possible. Sometimes as many as ten days may be needed to schedule a particular accommodation.

Management & Protection
Florida State Parks are managed as natural systems. All plant and animal life is protected in state parks. Hunting, livestock grazing and timber removal are not permitted. Do not remove, deface, mutilate or molest any natural resources. For your safety, do not feed any animals. Intoxicants and firearms are prohibited.

Hours of Operation
Florida state parks are open from 8 a.m. until sundown 365 days a year.

Pets
Pets are not allowed in camping areas, on bathing beaches, in concession areas and may be restricted in other designated areas of the park. Where pets are allowed, they must be kept on a six-foot, hand-held leash and well-behaved at all times. Service dogs are welcome in all areas of the parks.

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Reservations for
Florida State
Parks are now
made through
Reserve America,

toll free, at
1-800-326-3521
 
YBOR CITY STATE MUSEUM

Don Vicente Martinez Ybor, an influential cigar manufacturer and Cuban exile, came to a sandy, palmetto-covered frontier and turned it into a city for thousands of immigrants. These newcomers brought their skills and their culture, making Ybor City unique in Florida and the "Cigar Capital of the World."



HISTORY
From the opening of the first factory in 1886 until the 1930's, Ybor City was a flourishing Latin community. The Ybor Cigar Factory was the largest in the world, employing more than 4,000 of the 20,000 workers in Ybor City. Cubans, Spaniards, Italians, Germans and Jews called Ybor City home, establishing their own newspapers, restaurants, social clubs, mutual aid societies and hospitals. These immigrant medical services are among the earliest known examples of cooperative social medicine in the United States.

In the closing years of the 1800's, Ybor City became a support center for the Cuban Revolution. When war broke out between the United States and Spain in 1898, the Army stationed thousands of men in Ybor City, including Teddy Roosevelt and his "Rough Riders." On August 12, 1898, Cuba won its independence.

Ybor City's Latin community flourished for many years, but technology began to eat away at its very core. Competition by machines, popularity of cigarettes and the Depression combined to bring about the decline of the cigar industry in Ybor City. Factories shut down, unemployment soared and families moved away.



TODAY
Today the museum complex covers approximately one half of a city block. It includes an ornamental garden and three restored cigar workers' houses. One house, La Casita, is a museum.

The Ferlita Bakery building, listed in the National Register of Historic Places, was acquired in 1976 and opened as a museum in September 1980. The bakery was a major source of the community's daily bread and now forms the core of the museum complex. Its ovens, colorful sign displays and exhibits delight and educate thousands of visitors each year. The cigar worker's house, an excellent example of the "shotgun" houses in which many cigar makers lived, reflects family life in the early part of the 20th century. It is open for viewing Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. until noon and from 1 p.m. until 3 p.m.




Ybor City State Museum is located at the corner of 9th Avenue and 19th Street in Tampa.For more information, contact:
Ybor City State Museum
1818 Ninth Ave.
Tampa, FL 33605
or call (813) 247-6323


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