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Tampa Bay's forgotten history

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  • Description

    Interactive exhibit brings the 'Cigar City's' story to life

  • Duration 2:30
  • Date

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This transcript is automatically generated

Guys are gonna move.

Is -- Medicaid inside what looks like a 1920s.

Cigar shop were here inside cannot -- on out.

Here inside the camp but history senator and that -- -- there is CJ Roberts that CEO -- and Andrea thank you very much so what's the deal with.

Tampa I did not realize in addition to hosting Super Bowls and big bowl games and occasionally our hurricane.

This is also known as the cigar city.

Absolutely cigar manufacturing came here in the 1880s -- and sort of peaked in about the 1929 erect for the depression kicked in.

There were 300 cigar factories here that manufactured 500 million cigars.

And you told me that -- -- -- and there's there's a big map on the back and it shows you the gulf of Mexico plus the Caribbean a lot due to a political unrest back in the day a lot of the Cuban cigars were actually manufactured in Tampa.

-- late nineteenth century see a lot of political instability in Cuba.

The cigar manufacturers -- would relocate their operations to Key West -- as it turned out US wasn't quite far enough away.

A large fire came along and US -- -- factories so there was an opportunity to relocate right city fathers here in Tampa put together some nice incentive packages to draw the industry here -- that's fantastic and great thing about your -- is really tell the history -- only of Tampa but but the -- well.

The -- were inside right now and not outside in our tent is because of what looked like.

Our hurricane was -- bear bear down luckily it's out in the gulf and we hope that it does slows -- before it somewhere in the gulf.

You also highlight about a floor up.

Tampa and -- yelling at three floors of exhibits two floors of permanent exhibits and we talk about hurricanes course the last being hurricane event here.

Did -- -- 1920 once and it's it's been a while and been very fortunate absolutely.

Well things if you if you come down to.

Florida a lot in my family and I have for for many many years is.

Everything seems so brand new but in fact there were people living in Florida 101000 years ago long before Columbus long before the may file.

-- -- -- people people think maybe Florida doesn't have much of -- history because we're not surrounded by a lot of tangible reminders of old buildings in the life.

But the reality is couldn't be farther from the truth 101000 years of cultures that we're here.

Where we're standing every once in awhile some little build a parking garage or Condo and they'll find vestiges of those people -- norms of pottery shards or spear points and those kinds of things well it's -- it's beautiful facility and thanks for letting us take overlaps our -- to get it here all right.

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