Ybor City Museum State Park is a

Florida State Park There are 175 state parks and 9 state trails in the U.S. state of Florida which encompass more than , providing recreational opportunities for both residents and tourists. Almost half of the state parks have an associated local 501(c)(3) non-pr ...

Tampa Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

Ybor City Ybor City ( ) is a historic neighborhood just northeast of downtown Tampa, downtown Tampa, Florida, United States. It was founded in the 1880s by Vicente Martinez Ybor and other cigar manufacturers and populated by thousands of immigrants, mai ...

. The museum occupies the former Ferlita Bakery (originally La Joven Francesca) building at 1818 9th Avenue in the Ybor City Historic District. The bakery was known for producing Cuban bread and its ovens are part of the museum displays covering the history of the

cigar A cigar is a rolled bundle of dried and Fermentation, fermented tobacco leaves made to be Tobacco smoking, smoked. Cigars are produced in a variety of sizes and shapes. Since the 20th century, almost all cigars are made of three distinct comp ...

industry and the Latin community from the 1880s through the 1930s. There is also an ornamental garden in the building (available for rental after regular hours). Tours of the gardens and the "casitas" (small homes of cigar company workers) are provided by a ranger. Exhibits, period photos and a video cover the founding of Ybor City and the cigar making industry.

History

The Museum is housed on the site of what is likely the earliest U.S. bakery to produce Cuban bread, ''La Joven Francesca'' bakery. Established in 1896 by the Sicilian-born Francisco Ferlita, of Cuban-

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

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descent, bread sold for 3 to 5 cents a loaf, mainly to the Ybor City market. The bakery was destroyed by a fire in 1922, leaving only the brick bread oven standing. However, Francisco rebuilt the bakery even larger than before and added a second oven, turning it into a major supplier of bread for the Tampa/Ybor area. The bakery itself became a place to congregate, offering coffee and snacks. till the building was converted into a museum in 1973. In

, bread (like milk) used to be delivered every morning. Houses had a sturdy nail driven into the doorframe next to the door on which deliveryman would impale the fresh loaf of bread. La Joven closed in 1973 and was renovated and converted shortly after into a main part of the museum complex at the Ybor City State Museum. The original ovens where the original Cuban bread was baked are still viewable inside. La Segunda Bakery ('The Second' as La Primera, 'The First,' burned down long ago) is currently the major producer of Cuban Bread for the Tampa area. It was founded by Juan Morè, and opened La Primera Bakery in 1915.

References

External links

Ybor City Museum State Park
a
Florida State ParksMuseum website
a
Absolutely Florida
{{authority control Cuban-American history Cuban-American culture in Tampa, Florida Ethnic museums in Florida State parks of Florida Buildings and structures in Tampa, Florida History of Tampa, Florida Industry museums in Florida Italian-American culture in Tampa, Florida Latino museums in the United States Museums in Tampa, Florida Parks in Tampa, Florida Spanish-American culture in Tampa, Florida