Samuel I. Davis (1862-1916) was a native New Yorker who learned the cigar trade in his hometown.  In 1886 at the age of twenty four, after being a salesman for the very successful firm Julius Ellinger Co., he established the Samuel I. Davis Co. in New York and opened a factory at the corner of East End Ave. & 81st St. to produce the Harvester, El Sidelo, Valli-Valli, Par Fay, Sam Sloane, Plankinton, Allanson Junior, That’s the Why, Alfred Nobel and Adolph Froehlich brands.  By 1909 it had factories in New York City, western New York and Tampa.

Until September 1904, the Samuel I. Davis Co. occupied the old Joyce Cigar Co. building on Rock Rd. between Ybor City and Tampa.   That month Samuel I. Davis Co. built and became the first occupant of a new facility later known as the Balbin Bros. factory building on Howard Ave. & Nassau St., just three blocks north of this factory.  In 1906, Samuel's brother, Fred Davis, joined Samuel as a partner and the firm's name was changed to Davis Bros. Cigar Co.  That same year they acquired a factory building at Howard Ave. & State St. previously occupied by the Carlos Fernandez Co. where both Davis and Fernandez operated their factories employing approximately six hundred workers.

In 1909 the Davis brothers began construction of this, their third factory building at 900 Howard Ave. on the corner of Howard Ave. & Cypress St.  Upon nearing completion in May 1910, it burned down and only the tower remained, however, construction was eventually finished in 1911.  On October 2, 1910 the Balbin Bros. factory building  suffered major damage due to arson.  As a result, Davis Brothers Cigar Co. moved its four hundred workers here after its completion in 1911 and sold the Balbin Bros. building to the Balbin brothers. 

The Davis Bros. Cigar Co. operated here until 1919.  On May 15, 1919, six cigar manufacturers (E. M. Schwartz & Co. of New York, T. J. Dunn & Co. of New York, Jose Lovera of Tampa, Lillies Cigar Co. of Detroit, El Sidelo Cigar Co. and Samuel I. Davis Cigar Co.) agreed to merge and form the Consolidated Cigar Corp.   After the Consolidated Cigar Corp. acquired Davis. Bros. Cigar Co. and its subsidiary El Sidelo Cigar Co., Consolidated Cigar Corp. remained at this location until 1924 when it went out of business. Gradiaz, Annis & Co. relocated its manufacturing operations here from New York City in 1929 and remained here until 1933 when it moved to the Berriman Bros. factory building in Ybor City.  A. Santaella & Co. briefly operated a branch here from 1930-1931. 

Sunstate Sportswear Manufacturing occupied the building from 1954 into the 1980s.  During Sunstate Sportswear last few years in operation, a fire broke in the upper floors but was put out without structural damage. 

Although it is stated that construction of this 49,329 sq. ft. cigar factory building was started in 1909, Hillsborough County records show its year of construction as 1905.  It is one of only a few factory buildings that has a tower, although unlike this tower the other towers were clock towers.  It has a similar design to the Y. Pendas & Alvarez cigar factory located nearby, but without the clock atop its brick water tower. 

The building's current owner according to County records is JMC Property Investments, Inc.,  the property is currently not in use though well secured to prevent vandalism.