Built by Salvador Rodriguez in the late 1800s, the Charles the Great Cigar Factory stands as a testament to an industry that transformed Ybor City into the cigar capital of the world. During this period the cigar industry began shifting the majority of its manufacturing from Key West to Tampa, in order to take advantage of the ports and railroads in the area. Ybor City quickly became the new center of cigar manufacturing, and several cigar factories were built throughout downtown Tampa. The Charles the Great Factory became a significant establishment within the community, as it employed several of Ybor's inhabitants and generated income and business for the city allowing it to grow and expand. Considered quite modern at the time of its construction, the building boasted a total of four stories as well as electric lighting. It also stood out as one of the few factories to include an underground humidor in the basement, to ensure the freshness of the tobacco used for making cigars. With the decline of Rodriguez's Charles the Great brand of cigars in the mid-1900s, another cigar maker named Arturo Fuente purchased the building and began using it to manufacture his own brand, A. Fuente cigars. Fuente and his sons soon developed a thriving business, and eventually their descendants moved the bulk of their cigar manufacturing to the Dominican Republic. A branch of the Fuente family's cigar manufacturing company named Tampa Sweethearts, which is separate from the original A. Fuente brand, continues to manufacture and sell cigars out of the Charles the Great factory to this day. In addition to cigars still being manufactured and sold within its walls, the building also remains open to the public and serves as a symbol of Ybor City's past as well as the cigar industry that became part of the community's heritage.