Gavino Gutierrez

Gavino Gutierrez (26 October 1849 – 8 March 1919), a Spanish immigrant to the United States, was an importer, architect, civil engineer, and surveyor. He was responsible for bringing Vincente M. Ybor to Tampa, Florida and for designing Ybor City.

Gutierrez was born on October 26, 1849 in San Vicente de la Barquera, located in the northern Spanish province of Santander. He left Spain for Cuba as a young man, where he worked in a store. In 1868, at the age of 19, Gutierrez moved to New York City. During his first month in New York, he worked as a bellhop and established an import-export business, selling goods from Spain, Cuba, and Mexico. In addition, he studied architecture, engineering, surveying, and English, eventually becoming a civil engineer.

Gutierrez had a friend named Bernardino Gargol, who owned marmalade and guava paste factories in Cuba, and was also a native Cuban who lived in New York and ran an import-export business. Gargol told Gutierrez that there were many wild guava trees growing in the Tampa Bay area. Gargol wanted to establish a factory in Tampa for the manufacture of guava paste, in order to not have to import the products. Gargol asked Gutierrez to accompany him to Tampa, as Gargol could not speak English. They made the trip to Tampa by rail to Jacksonville, Florida, took a steamboat down the St. Johns River to Sanford, Florida, and finished their trip by stagecoach. A rail line between Tampa and Sanford existed at this time, but was isolated from the rest of the national rail network.

Gutierrez and Gargol did not find the number of guava trees they were looking for, but they liked the idea of using Tampa for other purposes. Gutierrez felt that Tampa would be a good site for import-export businesses, due to its good natural harbor and mild climate.

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