The earliest mention found of the Fernbach name associated with the cigar industry in the US is the 1902 US Directory of Cigar Manufacturers, Importers, Packers & Dealers of Leaf Tobacco which lists Fernbach & Sons of 223 21st St. as one of the cigar factories then operating in Chicago.  The January 1923 Donelly's Directory of Chicago District lists Julius Fernbach Co. Inc. as a cigar manufacturer at 2910 Indiana Ave. in Chicago.  The August 6, 1925 edition of the Tobacco publication states: "Julius Fernbach, head of Julius Fernbach & Company, makers of Cyrilla cigars, and Matt Wengler, of Wengler & Mandell, makers of Tom Palmer cigars, both arrived at their Chicago offices Monday. They have been on a buying trip to Havana and a visit to their factories at Tampa". Julius Fernbach (1867-1953) was born in Dubuque, Iowa of German descent.  Per the 1950 census record, he never married or had children.  Records indicate that while in Chicago, he resided at the Chicago Beach Hotel.  On or around 1942 when the hotel closed down, Fernbach retired and moved to live with his sister and brother-in-law in Akron, OH where he lived per the 1950 census records and where he died.

José Antonio Arango (1872-1953) was born in Oviedo, Asturias, Spain from where he emigrated to Chicago.  Per census records, José arrived in the US in 1887 or 1890 depending on the record.  In 1903 he married Italian immigrant from Genoa Rose Marubio (1878-1953) and had four children; Madeline (1905-1963), Anthony (1907-1983), Joseph Lawrence (1910-1980) and Anita Rose (1915-1993) all born in Chicago.  According to the 1920 census record, José was a Chicago resident and at the time worked as a salesman for a cigar store. 

In 1921, Julius Fernbach Co. relocated its factory from Chicago to 413 N Howard Ave. in West Tampa.  After years in Chicago, José Arango and family moved to Tampa to manage and supervise the Julius Fernbach Co. factory where it produced the Cyrilla and General Forbes brands.  Ca. 1925, the cigar factory moved to this location at the southwest corner of 15th St. & 11th Ave. in Ybor City when the facilities in West Tampa proved to be too small.  According to this publication of The Sentinel, in 1929 Julius Fernbach Co. still operated the factory in Tampa.  We do not know the date or details of how the factory operation was assumed by the José Arango Co., but it must have been ca. 1942 when Julius Fernbach retired.   

Per the book West Tampa Ciudad de Cigars, Armando Mendez states the José Arango Co. produced cigars here until just after the end of WWII. He also states that Arango's children Anthony and Madeline who in 1932 married José Llaneza Jr., were part of the firm when dissolved in the early 1950s and acquired by Villazón & Co.

Hillsborough County records show this factory building to be 14,785 sq. ft., built in 2004.  Another source states it was originally 21,600 sq. ft. built in 1905 and still another states that it was built in the early 1920's.  The Cyrilla factory is not on the list of factories established in Ybor City by 1915 on the Cigar Industry page, so we believe the correct information seems to be 14,785 sq. ft. above grade and 1920's construction. 

As can be seen from the ca. 1925 Burget Bros. picture below, the front of the factory building originally faced the narrow side of the building on 15th St., typical in all cigar factories those days.  The cigar factories were normally three stories high plus a basement, built lengthwise east to west to avoid direct sunlight and allow cross ventilation from the north prevailing breeze.  Today, the structure has undergone substantial alterations and transformation.  The front door then is now a middle grid window and the basement windows have been sealed.  The stairs and staircase covered by the red brick wall on the south side of the building, now the front, are additions to the original building.   

On January 23, 1975 the City of Tampa represented by its then Mayor William F. Poe, sold the property to Hillsborough Community College who is its current owner.  The construction date of 2004 shown in Hillsborough County Property Appraiser's records, seems to be the year it was completely remodeled by Hillsborough Community College.  The building currently serves as the administrative offices of the Hillsborough Community College Ybor City Campus.

José Arango of José Arango Co. is not one and the same as José Arango, brother of Francisco (Pancho) Arango, who was a partner at Seidenberg & Co.