Ybor City Museum State Park, Florida, United States

5The_Concierge_8 5:00 PM Jan 15, 2020

Do watch the video as it gives you the whole history of Ybor City. Please offer Casita tours until 4:30pm.
The museum was small but nicely done. There’s actually no need to go around the museum if you sit and watch the video in the reception area as you enter as all the information about Ybor City is in that video. It’s all there from its heyday and cigar factories to the buildings, businesses and social clubs. Everything you view on the walls and displays after just cements the video content further. Postcards are available for sale here. There are clean washrooms at the rear and of course chickens galore everywhere outside which are protected by law. Worth the entry donation though we arrived too late to visit the Casita (typical cigar-worker's family home). They should have an assistant or docent there until closing time to escort visitors through the Casita. It’s no point showing up at 3:15pm and being told you can’t visit because the ranger on duty has done the last tour of the day even though the museum itself doesn’t close until 5pm. There were 5 other people after us who were also told that unfortunately they couldn’t tour the casita. Disappointed.

5Freddie 5:00 PM Apr 5, 2021

Great Museum
This museum is amazing. For the size of the museum they sure pack a lot of information and artifacts into the building yet it does not feel cluttered. The museum does a great job telling the rich and multicultural history of Ybor City and stresses it would be a mistake to call Ybor just a Cuban neighborhood. Its Spanish, Italian, German, Jewish, African American, Afro-Cuban and white Cuban. I really like how they talked about the different slices of Ybor’s different culture groups by examining every day individuals that lived in Ybor. My only issue with the visit was the video at the entrance. The video echos through the old building and it becomes difficult to focus while reading the exhibit labels. Other than that, great museum and I wish it had more funding to it could continue telling this very important history.