“There are between three and four thousand Cubans in Tampa, and some Spaniards, too, but there is an intense prejudice on the part of the Spaniards against the Cubans, and as the latter feel the same dislike for the Spaniards, conflicts between the two sometimes occur, and if it were not for the good police administration might prove serious in some instances. The Cubans are many of them property-holders and are identified closely with the city’s growth. They are reported as moral, temperate, energetic and quite desirable citizens; and, are almost without exception, engaged in cigar-making and kindred industries. They are also an amusement-loving people, have several clubs and societies, an opera-house, a band and a newspaper. The Cuban settlement is in the Fourth Ward, called Ybor City, after Martinez Ybor, the pioneer cigar manufacturer in Tampa. Only four years ago this part of the city was an unimproved and uncultivated forest; now it is an active, bustling, wealthy town within itself, and, to add to its interest, Postmaster Cooper recently established a branch station, as he has also in the settlement of the colored people, for the accommodation of those who live far from the general post-office. “Twelve cigar factories are located in Ybor City, and there nearly all of the cigar-makers live. The largest factories are those of Ybor &, Co., Sanchez, Haya & Co., Lozano, Pendas & Co., R. Monne & Bro., and E. Pons &, Co. These five factories manufactured 33,950,575 cigars last year, the output of the Ybors alone being 15,030,700. The total number manufactured in the thirty factories in Key West was 77,251,374. More than $30,000 is paid out to the 1500 or 2000 cigar-makers in Ybor City every Saturday night, one-fourth of which is paid out at Ybor’s factory; and about $150,000 has been expended here in the past six years upon improvements. This cigar-making industry has contributed materially to the development and growth of Tampa during the last five years, and it promises much greater benefit in the future. It was in October, 1885, that Martinez Ybor & Co., who began manufacturing in Havana in 1854, and afterward put up a large factory in Key West, came to Tampa to investigate the resources and advantages offered for cigar-making. They soon afterward purchased forty acres of land in the Fourth Ward, cleared it of the pines, wild-oats and gophers, and built a factory, a large boarding-house or hotel, and several small cottages for the workmen whom they brought from Key West and Havana. The venture proved a success from the start and improvements were added. The original factory, a wooden structure, is now the opera house, and a large brick factory has succeeded the first one, where the daily output of the 450 cigar-makers employed is 40,000 to 50,000 cigars. Then came Sanchez & Haya, Emilio Pons, and others, and all declare that they are doing an excellent business.