Transcript A Tampa Immigrant’s Business Story of the Ficarrotta – Ferlita Families Kenneth C.

A Tampa Immigrant’s Business Story of the
Ficarrotta – Ferlita
Families
Kenneth C. Ferlita, AIA
February 2014
FICARROTTA FAMILY
Santo Stefano Quisquina, Sicily
Family relatives in Sicily [circa late 800s]
Ficarrotta – Ferlita Families
FICARROTTA - FERLITA
WEST TAMPA – YBOR CITY
Giuseppe R. Ficarrotta
Giuseppe R. Ferlita
[1868-1909]
1886- 1949
Ficarrotta – Ferlita Families
TIMELINE CHART
Ficarrotta – Ferlita Families
Giuseppe
Giuseppe
Ferlita
Ficarrotta
Ficarrotta
Ferlita
Macaroni
killed.
immigrated to
Macaroni
Factory
Ferlita
Florida
Factory
Macaroni expands to
[Worked in St.
expands
to
644 Main
Factory
Cloud Sugar
est. 1912 in Street,, next Ybor City
Mills]
into new
to family
Ferlita’s
Giuseppe
building
bakery in
home on
Ferlita
518 Green West Tampa
immigrated
St., West
to Tampa
Tampa
1891 1905 1909
1800s
1900
1912
1910
WEST TAMPA
1915
Ferlita
Family
Move out
of Ybor
factory into
a South
Tampa
Home
1924
1920
Ferlita
Macaroni
Factory
expands to
larger
factory.
633 Union
St, West
Tampa
1936
1930
YBOR CITY
Ferlita
Macaroni
Factory
forced to
relocate to
2001 N
Tampaina,
West Tampa
1940
Giuseppe
Ferlita
dies
International
Bank ‘s
Loan Due
1944 1949
1940
WEST TAMPA
1950s
WEST TAMPA
FLORIDA
Main Street, West Tampa [circa 1895]
Ficarrotta – Ferlita Families
Giuseppe R. Ficarrotta
1868- 1909
Giuseppe Ficarrotta immigrated from
Santo Stefano Quisquina, Sicily to the
United States in 1891 and after working at
the St. Cloud Sugar Mills for about a year,
settled in West Tampa. His wife Maria
Nicolina Pirello joined him in 1892.
Within 10 years he had prospered to open
a bakery and a feed store . He was a
founding member, along with Hugh
MacFarlane to establish the West Tampa
Building & Loan with a stock capitol of
$900,000. He served on the West Tampa
City Council.
His murder was never solved but the
newspaper accounts indicated because
he was one of West Tampa’s wealthiest
businessman, two unidentified men
approached him to extort $10,000 to aid id
bribing a criminal friend from jail, but
because he refused was killed.
Giuseppe R. Ficarrotta
West Tampa City Councilman
Ficarrotta – Ferlita Families
WEST TAMPA
1909 Murder
1910
Ficarrotta & Albano Lynching
[Howard and Kennedy]
Tampa Police Department 1900s
www.WestTampaMurder.com
Ficarrotta – Ferlita Families
WEST TAMPA
Condolence Letters
Maria Pirello Ficarrotta
Ficarrotta – Ferlita Families
WEST TAMPA
1909 Murder
Acting Municipal Judge
Granville Larimore
West Tampa Constable
Fernandez Gonzalez
www.WestTampaMurder.com
Ficarrotta – Ferlita Families
WEST TAMPA
FLORIDA
G. Ficarrotta & Co. Bakery – Rosario Ferlita Bakery
Ficarrotta – Ferlita Families
WEST TAMPA
FLORIDA
MAIN STREET
Bakery & Macaroni Factory
Ficarrotta – Ferlita Families
Giuseppe R. Ferlita
1886 - 1949
Giuseppe R. Ferlita immigrated from Santo Stefano
Quisquina, Sicily to USA in 1905. He first worked as a
cigar maker until his father purchased a bakery in
West Tampa .
With a loan from his brother-in-law, James Ficarrotta,
and assistance from good friends like Angelo
Mortellaro a businessman and founding member of the
Italian Club, his macaroni factory was on Main St in a
building owned by his in-laws.
The business continued to grow and relocated to a
new factory on 22nd Street and 6th Avenue.
As pasta shipments expanded as far north as Georgia,
again the factory was in need of expansion. In the late
1930s the business moved Union Street in West
Tampa, but was forced to relocate again due to a new
Public Housing development. Shortly after the final
move to Tampaina Avenue ,WWII broke out and other
finances difficultness began to strain the business.
The bank called in the loan to buy the business for the
banker’s son and within five years Giuseppe Ferlita
died in 1949.
Ficarrotta – Ferlita Families
Giuseppe R. Ferlita
Ferlita Macaroni Co.
WEST TAMPA
FLORIDA
1911
1920
Giuseppe Ferlita marriage to
Maria Paola Ficarrotta
Giuseppe Ferlita marriage to
Vicenta Ficarrotta
Maria Paola Ficarrotta was separated from her parents at the age of four and wasn’t reunited until she was fifteen years
old. She married her childhood friend in Tampa at the age of 23,. Sadly her life was cut short at only 30 when she died
of Spanish Flu. That same week the Ficarrotta Family lost two other siblings also to the flu.
Ficarrotta – Ferlita Families
FERLITA FAMILY
1920
L-R: Vincenta Ficarrotta, Mary, Rosario (standing), Paul, Joseph, Jr. and Giuseppe Ferlita
Ficarrotta – Ferlita Families
FERLITA FAMILY
Giuseppe and Vincenta Ferlita
Certificate of Naturalization - 1942
Ficarrotta – Ferlita Families
YBOR CITY
FLORIDA
Ferlita Macaroni Factory [1930s]
Ficarrotta – Ferlita Families
YBOR CITY
FLORIDA
Paul Ferlita standing on truck [1928]
Ferlita Macaroni Delivery Truck [1930s]
Ficarrotta – Ferlita Families
YBOR CITY
FLORIDA
Ferlita Macaroni Factory
Ficarrotta – Ferlita Families
YBOR CITY
FLORIDA
Ferlita Macaroni Factory – Ybor City
Ficarrotta – Ferlita Families
YBOR CITY
FLORIDA
Ferlita Macaroni Factory & Family Residence – Ybor City
Ficarrotta – Ferlita Families
YBOR CITY
FLORIDA
Ybor location “For Sale” after the factory was relocated to West Tampa
Ficarrotta – Ferlita Families
WEST TAMPA
FLORIDA
Ferlita Macaroni Factory – Union Street
Ficarrotta – Ferlita Families
WEST TAMPA
FLORIDA
Ferlita Macaroni Factory – Union Street
Diesel Generator
Ficarrotta – Ferlita Families
WEST TAMPA
FLORIDA
Angelo Massari
1883 - 1970
International Bank of Tampa
300 West Fortune Street
1946
Ficarrotta – Ferlita Families
FERLITA MACARONI FACTORY
REBIRTH
Before Restoration of the
Ferlita Macaroni Factory
[2009]
Ficarrotta – Ferlita Families
YBOR CITY
FLORIDA
Restoration of the Ferlita Macaroni Factory [2010]
Ficarrotta – Ferlita Families
YBOR CITY
FLORIDA
Before Restoration of the Ferlita Macaroni Factory [2009]
Old Residential Entrance
Ficarrotta – Ferlita Families
YBOR CITY
FLORIDA
Ferlita Macaroni Factory – 2009
Ferlita Macaroni Factory – Today
Ficarrotta – Ferlita Families
YBOR CITY
FLORIDA
Ferlita Macaroni Factory “Then & Now” - Ybor City
Ficarrotta – Ferlita Families
Questions
Thank you – Kenneth Ferlita, AIA
www.Ferlita.com
February 2014
West Tampa's birth came fast on the heels of
this new burst of economic activity. Hugh C.
Macfarlane (1851-1935), a transplanted
Scotsman, moved to Tampa in 1883 after
hearing about the real estate growth while
practicing law in New Orleans. After arriving in
Tampa to practice law and he rose quickly in the
community and in 1887 was appointed City
Attorney.
WEST TAMPA
FLORIDA
In 1892, Macfarlane purchased and platted 200
acres of land just west of the Hillsborough River
for development. Macfarlane began offering
factory sites and three story brick buildings to
manufacturers.
To encourage factories to relocate to West
Tampa he and some investors, built an iron
drawbridge across the Hillsborough River at
Fortune Street and later financed a streetcar
line.
Dozens of cigar companies and thousands of
people moved into the new city resulting in
capital investments of over $2 million in West
Tampa, a staggering sum in those bygone days.
Three short years later, on May 18, 1895, West
Tampa was incorporated, boasting 3,500
residents with businesses and community
services.
Ficarrotta – Ferlita Families
Hugh MacFarlane
1844 - 1896
ST. CLOUD
FLORIDA
Hamilton Disston
1844 - 1896
Hamilton Disston, was an industrialist and
real-estate developer who purchased four
million acres of Florida land in 1881, an
area larger than the state of Connecticut,
and reportedly the most land ever
purchased by a single person in world
history.
Ficarrotta – Ferlita Families