Explore Ybor City with Evangeline “Van” Linkous, Ph.D., AICP, a History Center-trained guide and USF professor who teaches urban planning history. Her courses examine industrialization, mutual aid societies, highway development, suburbanization and downtown revitalization, all central to Ybor City’s development. 

During this 90-minute tour, Van connects her academic expertise with the cigar factories, social clubs, brick streets and landmark buildings along the route. Guests will learn how Ybor developed as a central hub of the United States’ cigar industry and how it emerged as a rare multi-ethnic and multi-racial industrial community in the Deep South in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Van also provides her urban planning expertise to share the story of Ybor’s post-war transformations and the processes shaping Ybor today.

Local guests learn how major developments in American urban history unfolded close to home. Visitors from outside Tampa will gain a clear understanding of how Ybor became one of the city’s most distinctive historic districts.

The tour begins at a new location: Parque Amigos de José Martí, or Friends of José Martí Park, 1303 E. Eighth Ave., Tampa, FL 33605. Participants will walk approximately one mile along public sidewalks and brick streets. Comfortable shoes and weather-appropriate clothing are recommended. Guests may also want to bring bottled water.

Advance tickets are required, and space is limited to 25 guests. History Center members save 20% on walking tour tickets by signing in before checkout.

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