The factories drove economic activity, and institutions of community life developed around them. In Ybor City, the mutual aid clubs make it possible to study that dimension of cigar history.

The local Chamber of Commerce documents societies organised by immigrant communities and links their legacy to meeting places, theatres and assistance services. Its history of the Círculo Cubano connects the formation of associations with the changes that Tampa’s Cuban community went through.

Studying those clubs widens the view from the workstation to the neighbourhood. Theatres, meeting halls and assistance services are part of the community’s heritage. Alongside the architecture of the factories, they preserve another dimension of the world of cigars: the organisation of those who lived around its industry.