The area had great potential. Mostly due to Henry B. Plant's work on improving port facilities, the Cuban tobacco leaf could be easily imported, and Ybor's famous "Clear Havana" cigars freely exported.
Immigrants provided the labor for his first cigar factory that opened in 1886. Cigar workers, lined elbow to elbow, crafted the hand-rolled cigars, but they were treated well, read to aloud by factory lectors to add intrigue to their workday. Because they were treated well, word spread and Ybor's factories attracted master cigar craftsmen from Spain, Cuba and Italy. The small town soon became the "cigar capital of the world."
