To coincide with the 140th anniversary of Ybor City<\/a>, Drew Newman teamed up with St. Petersburg-based documentary photographer Zack Wittman<\/a> to collect the images and stories of these factories in a new art photography book called \u201cCigar City: The Legacy of Tampa\u2019s Founding Industry<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Wittman spent six months shooting over 12,000 images inside and out of the factories. He was granted access to spaces that many people never get to see, including the abandoned Samuel I. Davis factory<\/a> that has sat untouched for years.<\/p>\n Newman first got the idea for the book two years ago while reading about former factories in the Tampa Bay Times. Fires, urban renewal and construction projects \u2014 including the addition of the interstate \u2014 wiped out most of the factories in Ybor City, Palmetto Beach and West Tampa. His great-grandfather, Julius Caesar Newman, founded J.C. Newman Cigar Co. in 1895.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was October of 2023 when the Times created a list of the 25 cigar factories still standing in Tampa<\/a>, identifying them by address with their current uses and their history,\u201d Newman said during a book launch event at J.C. Newman last week. \u201cIt was this piece of journalism by Paul Guzzo<\/a> that highlighted for us a great opportunity here to tell the story of these buildings that built the city of Tampa.\u201d<\/p>\n Newman called Wittman in December 2023 to be the eye behind this quest. Wittman is an award-winning photojournalist whose work has been featured in publications around the world, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, Time and Rolling Stone. Disclaimer: He\u2019s also a former Tampa Bay Times photographer and a friend to many of us at the paper. (The Florida journalism world is small!)<\/p>\n Wittman, during the book launch, described the factories as \u201cthe monuments to this industry that built the city. And our stories are told through these objects.\u201d<\/p>\n He took exterior portraits of each factory at the same time each day to highlight the similarities and differences among each facade. Detail shots show the unique personality of each building, includingshadowy staircases and trap doors.<\/p>\n The 189 photos that made it in the book also feature people interacting with the structures, from neighbors and factory caretakers to master cigar rollers.<\/p>\n \u201cThe factories are in different stages of flux,\u201d Wittman said. \u201cSome are offices, some are apartment buildings, some are completely abandoned, but the community is the throughline that connects all of them.\u201d<\/p>\n The book is available for purchase on the J.C. Newman Cigar Co. website<\/a> and in person at the gift shop. Soon, it will be in local bookstores. ButNewman wants to be clear that it\u2019s not a J.C. Newman Cigar Co. book.<\/p>\n \u201cWe didn\u2019t want to see the Newman name on the back,\u201d Newman said. \u201cThis is about Tampa and the industry and the legacy of the 200 cigar factories that were here a century ago, and 25 of those 200 that are still standing.\u201d<\/p>\n Wittman and Newman were inspired by the Burgert Brothers Photographic Collection of over 20,000 images<\/a>of Tampa life and landmarks from the mid-1800s through the mid-1900s. The photos areavailable to the public through the Hillsborough County Public Library Cooperative<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just a tremendous resource that we use and a lot of people use because they captured Tampa the way it was 60, 70, 80 years ago,\u201d Newman said. \u201cAnd for us as cigar makers that are attached to the tradition of cigar making, we want to make cigars today the same way that was shown in the photos.\u201d<\/p>\n Newman hopes this book, and the rest of Wittman\u2019s photos that didn\u2019t make it in, can be a continuation of the Burgert Brothers\u2019 mission.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople 25, 50, 100 years now can look back at the Wittman photos and say, \u2018Wow, this is what Tampa cigar factories were like.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Cigar City: The Legacy of Tampa\u2019s Founding Industry<\/p>\n Images by Zack Wittman. Words by Drew Newman.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/f8048d6329a5cea48be6ece49c4a2fc4.jpeg\"\/)
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