This Jaxson editorial was originally published by Jax Today on October 13, 2024.
El Modelo Cigar Manufacturing Company
The former El Modelo Cigar Manufacturing Company at 513 West Bay Street.
During the late 19th century cigar makers found Jacksonville as an attractive location to process Havana tobacco. At the time, Jacksonville was the terminus of six railroads, home to a 24’ deep river channel, and considered the gateway to Florida, the Bahamas, and Cuba. By 1895, the city had become home to 15 cigar manufacturing companies and thousands of Cuban immigrants. The largest was Gabriel Hidalgo-Gato’s El Modelo Cigar Manufacturing Company. Located at 513 West Bay Street in LaVilla, the cigar factory opened in 1889, employed 225 and produced 6 million stogies annually. El Modelo’s brands included the Florida Alligator, Hamlet, El Modelo, La Tropia and El Deleite.
However, José Alejandro Huau, Hidalgo-Gato’s brother-in-law, may have been the most popular cigar factory owner in town. His factory at 32 West Bay Street employed 150 cigar workers at its height. With the assistance of Huau, José Martí visited Jacksonville eight times between 1891 and 1898, primarily making stops and speeches at El Modelo to stir up enthusiasm and financial support for Cuba’s freedom movement. Huau would go on to become a Jacksonville city councilmember.
Sola & Gonzalez Company
The Sola & Gonzalez Company briefly operated out of 322 Broad Street in LaVilla.
The Sola & Gonzalez Company was a cigarmaker that briefly operated a factory at 322 Broad Street in LaVilla. Owned and operated by Jose de Sola and Mario Gonzalez, the factory was first listed at this address in 1911. Although part owner, Gonzalez was a cigar maker who resided in Tampa. Jose de Sola, also listed occasionally as Joseph, was born in Havana, Cuba around 1877 and moved to Tampa in 1907. Sola & Gonzalez leased space in the building from the National Mercantile Realty and Improvement Company. Ownership included Edward D. Mixon. Mixon was a Gullah Geechee contractor and real estate developer who also built the Eastside’s Debs Store building a few years later in 1913.
The building was acquired by the City of Jacksonville in 1994 for $34,000. Since that time, the building has fallen into great despair. In recent years, the second floor has collapsed. Today, the Downtown Investment Authority (DIA) is considering partial demolition of the structure, while preserving the building’s front facade.
Lolita Cigar Company
The Lolita Cigar Company was located at 704 Broad Street.
The Central Hotel building at the intersection of Broad and West Beaver Streets is a space with a rich multicultural and Civil Rights Movement past. It was designed by architect Mellen C. Greeley and built for the Ames Realty Company in 1912. In 1919, the storefronts were filled with a variety of businesses, including a dressmaker, grocery store, and two confectioneries. By 1921, the Central Hotel was open and a variety of businesses catered to the Black population, who were prevented from shopping in downtown Jacksonville during segregation.
During the 1920s Cuban immigrants Julio C. Pulgaron and Carlos Ortega operated the Lolita Cigar Company on the building’s ground floor at 704 Broad Street. During this era, Pulgaron also lived or operated cigar making businesses on Davis, Johnson and West Ashley Streets.
Charles “Charley” Jacob Hazouri (1897-1969) ran a market. Hazouri, a Lebanese immigrant, originally settled in LaVilla with his father, Jacob Nadir Hazouri, in 1904 and is an ancestor of Jacksonville mayor’s Donna Deegan and Tommy Hazouri.
Another tenant, the Jacksonville Negro Welfare League, provided counseling and referrals for African American veterans returning from World War II for employment, housing, education, and training benefits. The Negro Welfare League merged with a new Jacksonville branch of the National Urban League to create the Jacksonville Urban League in August 1947. The Central Hotel was designated as a local historic landmark in 1995. In 2013 the structure was renovated into 4,600 square feet of ground floor office space and 16 upper level apartments by the Clara White Mission.
Editorial by Ennis Davis, AICP. Contact Ennis at edavis@moderncities.com