Why do they call it that? Ybor City LIVE on the road!

The founder of Tampa's Ybor City community didn't exactly name his new town after himself.

We took The Morning Show LIVE to Centro Ybor in Ybor City on Wednesday, February 9th!

Thank you to Centro Ybor, the Ybor City Information Center, the Knights of Sant' Yago, HART and the TECO Streetcar line, Singing Stone jewelry gallery, Gonzalez Habano Cigar Co., the Ybor City State Museum, the Don Vicente Inn, Joffrey's Coffee & Tea Company, Hamburger Mary's, Shrimp & Co. restaurant, Tampa Bay Brewing Co., GameTime, Academy Prep Center of Tampa, Ybor City Development Corp., the Tampa Bay History Center, and many others for their support!

For information about the Pin Chasers Knight Parade on Saturday, February 12th, visit the Knights of Sant' Yago website.

For more on the Fiesta Day festival on Saturday, February 26th, visit the Ybor City Chamber of Commerce website.

Photo Gallery: Behind the scenes pictures at Ybor City!

Why do they call it Ybor City?

"Ybor City's named for Vicente Martinez Ybor, who came to Tampa in the 1880's with a friend of his, a guy named Ignacio Haya," explained Rodney Kite-Powell, curator of history at the Tampa Bay History Center.

"Both of them owned cigar factories elsewhere, in Key West and in Havana, Cuba. But they were looking to move their factories to a different location to get away from some of the labor problems."

Tampa's century-long reputation as the cigar capital of the U.S. began with those two men. The Tampa Bay History Center chronicles that era in an exhibit that looks like an old Ybor City cigar shop and is home to an impressive model that lets visitors peer inside and check out how a cigar factory like Ybor's worked.

Ybor built a cigar factory. Haya built one, too. So why isn't it Haya City?

"Ybor bought more land than Haya did," Kite-Powell said. "So Ybor got to call the place 'Ybor.' "

But even that name is strange in a way. "His name was Vicente Martinez Ybor. And his proper last name was 'Martinez' -- that was his father's last name," Kite-Powell said.

So Kite-Powell suggests maybe the town should have been called "Martinez City."

Why do they call it that? Now you know.

If you want to ask "Why do they call it that?" send an e-mail with a name that has you curious to Grayson Kamm using this link.

We'll be featuring new places and stories each Wednesday on 10 News at 5 a.m. and 5 p.m..

Check out previous editions of "Why do they call it that?" plus links to photos and maps from Tampa Bay's past at our "Why do they call it that?" website: wtsp.com/callitthat.

Connect with 10 News multi-media journalist Grayson Kamm
twitter @graysonkamm | e-mail at this link | or on Facebook

Grayson Kamm, 10 News