This 67,485 square foot four-story factory building at 1302 N 19th St. was built according to Hillsborough County records in 1916, which information appears to be in error.  Other sources which appear to be more reliable state it was built in 1908 for the Portland, OR based firm Esberg-Gunst Cigar Co.  It was occupied by the Alto Cigar Company between 1910 and 1912, by the M. A. Gunst Co. between 1913 and 1917, by the General Cigar Co. in 1918 and then Francisco Arango & Cia. between 1919 and 1922.

Manuel "Manny" Corral (1870-1938), was born in Robledo, Asturias, Spain to Santiago Corral and Antonia Collado.  He emigrated to Cuba around the age of ten and there learned and was involved in the cigar manufacturing business until he moved to Tampa in 1905.   Soon after arriving in Tampa, Corral established Fernandez, Wodiska & Corral, in partnership with Antonio Fernandez and Edward Wodiska (1858-1937).  

Edward Wodiska (1882- ) was a New York native of Austrian descent who had been a talent agent in New York City. Wodiska had developed a reputation as an outstanding salesman, working for several cigar concerns including Argüelles, Lopez & Bros., Ruy Lopez Co. and Ryan & Raphael Cigar Co.  Francisco Sierra (1863-1948) left Asturias, Spain for Cuba as a young teenager where he learned the cigar business.  Ca. 1990 Francisco married Maria Corral (1867-1960), sister of Manuel Corral of which marriage they had four children all born in Cuba; Frank "Panchito" (1890-1980), Celestino (1891-1973), Alejandrina (1898- ) and Albert (1906- ).  Francisco and family left Cuba for Tampa in 1907.

In 1907 Manuel Corral acquired Antonio Fernandez shares in Fernandez, Wodiska & Corral and with Edward Wodiska and his brother-in-law Francisco Sierra formed Corral-Wodiska & Cia.  Francisco's  production knowledge and Wodiska's distribution talent were contributing factors to the success of the new venture.  Their original and better known cigar brands were Bering and Julia Marlow, a beautiful and famous New York actress and friend of Wodiska. 

Corral-Wodiska & Cia. original factory, which no longer exists, was located at 2612 N 14th St. on the corner with Michigan Ave. (now Columbus) west of the Perfecto Garcia and E. Regensberg & Sons factories where they remained until 1925. From that location they moved to this factory building, which states on the facade “1928 - Corral Wodiska y Ca.” suggesting that was when they moved here. “Bering”, Corral-Wodiska's best known brand of cigars, can still be seen on the side of the building.  The date on the facade of the building states 1928

In 1924, Francisco Sierra broke away from Corral-Wodiska & Cia. and acquired the Salvador Rodriguez operation to continue manufacturing cigars at the Charles the Great cigar factory building.  As stated above, Corral-Wodiska & Cia. continued to make cigars at this location until 1985.  However, by that time the one time Bering premium brand hand rolled cigars, were machine made.

Corral-Wodiska & Cia. remained at this location until 1985 when they were bought by Swisher International, Inc., makers of Swisher Sweets who consolidated its manufacturing processes.  In 1990 Swisher moved production of Bering cigars to Honduras where the cigars were made under contract by a third party.  In the early to mid 1990s, Swisher ceased to have Bering cigars made under contract and built a brand new 78,000 sq. ft. factory in Danlí, Honduras.  In 2002 Swisher sold the Bering brand and the factory to Nestor Plasencia who had been their man in Honduras.  

In recent years, the Corral-Wodiska factory building underwent a complete rehabilitation in accordance with Historic Guidelines established by the Federal Government and is currently a multi-tenant professional office building.