Cigar City

Since the 19th century, Key West has been one of the historic centers of cigar tradition. At one time boasting more cigar factories per capita than anywhere else in the world, Key West has always played a major role in the cigar industry. Just after the Civil War, this city became a Mecca for Cuban citizens fleeing their country for a long time, the revolution against Spain. In the late 1870s, there were over 100 factories making cigars.

Cuban influence in Key West began on a large scale in 1868 when the first war against Spanish authority created a mass exodus. When the Cubans were forced conscription into the Spanish army to fight against their countrymen, thousands of skilled craftsmen of cigars and their families have fled their homeland.

On a single day in September 1869, over 2,000 Cubans lined the docks of Havana to flee their country of origin. While some left for New York or New Orleans, the majority boarded steamers for the 12 hour trip to a destination ninety miles north, a town called Cuba Cayo Hueso, Key West today.

The civil war against Spain failed in 1878, however it created a social upheaval in Key West as Cuban immigrants continued to arrive intermittently for decades, virtually revolutionizing the social fabric of Key West economy.

Prior to 1868, Key West had less than 500 residents, noted primarily for acquiring wealth from shipwrecks, but a new form of wealth was about to arrive when Cuban immigrants with skills and talent cigar making, arrived by the thousands in the case of a year or two.

At the peak of the industry, Key West embodied the largest city in the nation in cigarette production. It featured 57 major manufacturers of cigars - many of whom moved to Havana - and each use that is made between five and 500 workers. In 1883 alone, 42 million hand-rolled cigars were created.

To house their cigar laborers, factory owners frequently constructed little cottages - bungalow-style structures principally of frame construction - and rents them for small sums. To ensure an adequate supply of workers, these houses are adjacent to manufacturing plants. These structures still represent the largest category of frame vernacular (simple structures of wood with little or no decorative details) in Key West proper.

They were built from termite-proof Dade County pine with high ceilings for ventilation. They were raised on the ground, allowing air to circulate under the house where roosters and hens lived and were part of the family, raised for eggs or meat or were trained for fighting roosters.

Although few modern standards, these cabins are much better than living in Havana, they were certainly far superior to tenement houses to be condemned in the northern cities. Several times a cigar maker change job in another factory just to get a new house to live in. These houses were offered for cheap rental or purchase option at a reasonable price to maintain a force stable work.

With good homes, good wages and the freedom to say the revolution, the cigar artisans existed. Their union has provided skillful considerable force, while many EU workers in the North were huddled in appalling housing building, Key West has been indulging in cigarworkers Shangri-la. Even their many strikes, which ultimately contributed to the decline of the cigar industry, reflects the luxury of their position. In the strike of 1918, work stopped, as has been normal, until the EU requirements have been met. Petitions: No sweeping before 6 am, ice in the water, and coal, not wood, fuel for heating in winter.

The bungalows are small cigars have endured the test of time. Many of these structures in Key West are tiny, only 300 or 400 square feet. They often have porches, small classes with Picke.