Berriman Bros. was established by Matthew W. Berriman (1863-1920) born in Oswego, NY and his brother Edward C. Berriman (1875-1925) to operate a cigar factory in New York producing the Don Cosme, Jose Vila, La Sinceridad, La Evidencia, Marc Anthony, and Light It brands. According to Armando Mendez in his book Ciudad de Cigars: West Tampa, Berriman Bros. Cigar Co. accepted an offer from the West Tampa Land & Improving Co. of $8,200 in cash and four building lots where in October 1903 they finished construction of this factory building at Howard Ave NE corner La Salle in West Tampa. They then relocated the small operation they had since July of that year at the old Garcia factory at the corner of Howard Ave. & State St. and closed down their factory in New York and relocated to this brand new three-story 33,085 sq. ft. cigar factory building where they could accommodate up to four hundred workers.

In 1910 they still operated this facility as evidenced by the 1910 R. L. Polk & Co. City Directory lists Matthew W. Berriman and Edward C. Berriman as owners of Berriman Bros. cigar manufacturers at Howard Ave NE corner La Salle in West Tampa. Since this factory would accommodate only some four hundred workers which Berriman Bros. outgrew in a few years, on May 22, 1910 they sold this building to the Morgan Cigar Co. for $110,000 and  moved their local manufacturing operation to the factory building occupied by Gonzalez, Fisher & Co. at 2311 18th St. on the southeast corner of 18th St. & 13th Ave. in Ybor City later occupied by Gradiaz, Annis & Co.  The Berriman Bros. Cigar Co. operated at the Gradiaz, Annis & Co. facility until 1929 when it was acquired for $105,000 and a building at 402 22nd St. in Ybor City by the Wengle & Mandell Cigar Co. Berriman Bros. continued operations at the new building until 1950 when the company quit the cigar business.

After an additional investment of $8,500 in renovations, the Morgan Cigar Co. moved from their location at 2802 N Howard Ave. here where they could accommodate up to one thousand workers and roll more than eleven million cigars a year.  Throughout the years, the Morgan Cigar Co. added additional brands first in 1924 when it acquired the F. Lozano & Son Co. and then in 1942 when they acquired Arango & Arango Cigar Co. The building was used continuously as a cigar factory from the time of its construction until 1961 when Morgan Cigar Co. was purchased by Gradiaz, Annis & Co. who in turn was acquired by General Cigar Co. in 1964.  In the 1970s the building was used as a tobacco warehouse by Gonzales & Sons and then sat empty for approximately twenty five years. 

In 1985, the owner at the time, Gonzalez & Sierra, Inc., sold the building to the Morgan Building Partnership formed by Dennis Mosman, Larry S. Hyman and Thomas G. Dupont.  On May 16, 1995 the partnerships sold the property to Historic Morgan Apartments, Ltd, who in February, 1999 sold it to the North Tampa Housing Development Corporation, Inc.  After title being transferred to several government agencies, in April 8, 2004 the City of Tampa, represented by its then Mayor Pam Iorio, sold the building to Nicholas Jammal of Jammal Engineering, Inc. 

The building was designated in 2004 as a national and local historic landmark and renamed the Berriman-Morgan Cigar Factory.  Its current owner, Nicholas Jammal, restored the building to the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards and Guidelines for the Rehabilitation of Historic Buildings.  In April 2008 the rehabilitated building earned the City-County Planning Commission's prestigious Jan Abell Award. The old factory building was for several years the home of Argosy University.  In 2020 it became the home of the St. Leo University Tampa Education Center.  In December 2023 I attended a social event held at this building hosted by St. Leo University and Nicholas Jamal and was able to take several pictures of the building's interior which I have added at the end of the gallery below.