page_title: Tampa, Florida
section_title: Plant's railroad
hierarchical_section_title: Tampa, Florida / History / 1880s economic prosperity / Plant's railroad
caption_attribution_description: en:Vicente Martinez Ybor's First Cigar Factory, 1916 North Fourteenth Street, en:Ybor City, Tampa, en:Hillsborough County, Florida, c. en:1902,
context_page_description: Tampa is a major city in, and the county seat of, Hillsborough County, Florida, United States. It is on the west coast of Florida on Tampa Bay, near the Gulf of Mexico. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay Area. With an estimated population of 399,700 in 2019, Tampa is the 48th most-populous city in the U.S. and the third-largest city in Florida after Miami and Jacksonville. The bay's port is the largest in the state, near downtown's Channel District. Bayshore Boulevard runs along the bay, and is east of the historic Hyde Park neighborhood.
  Today, Tampa is part of the metropolitan area most commonly referred to as the "Tampa Bay Area". For U.S. Census purposes, Tampa is part of the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. The four-county area is composed of roughly 3.1 million residents, making it the second largest metropolitan statistical area in the state, and the fourth largest in the Southeastern United States, behind Washington, D.C.; Miami; and Atlanta. The Greater Tampa Bay area, has over 4 million residents and generally includes the Tampa and Sarasota metro areas.
context_section_description: Henry B. Plant's narrow-gauge South Florida Railroad reached Tampa and its port in late 1883, finally connecting the small town to the nation's railroad system after years of efforts by local leaders. Previously, Tampa's overland transportation links had consisted of sandy roads stretching across the Florida countryside. Plant's railroad made it much easier to get goods in and out of the Tampa Bay area. Phosphate and commercial fishing exports could be sent north by rail, and many new products were brought into the Tampa market, along with the first tourists.
caption: Ybor's first cigar factory c. 1900
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