CIGAR FACTORIES 1885 Part II
A National Cigar History Museum Exclusive
© Tony Hyman
Information taken from the 1886-1887 Directory of the Tobacco Industry
of the United States and Havana, Cuba, published by Tobacco Leaf
Uploaded May 24, 2010
Modified: June 24, 2010
Welcome to Part II of the two-part Exhibit giving you a look at cigar factories across America in 1885, during the Early Golden Age. It is strongly recommended that you visit <Part I> before reading Part II.
Part II is a state-by-state overview of cigar factories in operation in 1885. It focuses on the 20 states with the most factories. You will see how many small, medium and large factories each state had, and where key ones were located.
At the end of each state’s summary, large factories are identified, including (1) the Name of the Company or it’s owner, (2) it’s street address (available only in large cities), (3) the city in which it is located, (4) the number of rollers the factory was Federally bonded to employ [in brackets] and (5) the Federally assigned I.D. which consists of the Factory Number and tax District. Entries for Pennsylvania, New York and a few other states include a brief look at that state’s “cigar towns.”
This National Cigar History Museum Exclusive, Cigar Factories in 1885, is compiled from the Directory of the Tobacco Industry of the United States and Havana, Cuba and annotated by Tony Hyman.
States are listed in order, beginning with the state in which the largest number of cigar factories were operating in 1885.
Michigan had 525 factories, 99 of which were mid-size. Of
the latter, 38 were in Detroit. The state’s 6 large factories:
American Cigar Co., Coldwater [150] Fact. 13, 1st Dist. MI
Burke, Rich & Co., Detroit [100] Fact. 555, 1st Dist. MI
Detroit Cigar Mfg. Co., Detroit [100] Fact. 2, 1st Dist. MI
George Moebs & Co., Detroit [100] Fact. 421, 1st Dist. MI
William Tegge, Detroit [100] Fact. 319, 1st Dist. MI
Globe Cigar Co., Iona [150] Fact. 95, 4th Dist. MI
Like Maryland, Missouri’s 576 factories were clustered primarily in one city, in this case St. Louis whose 356 factories made up 62% of Missouri’s 576 total. Kansas City had another 61 factories (11% of the statewide total). In Missouri there were 75 mid-size factories, about evenly split between St. Louis and everywhere else. The largest factory?
L. Schottmueller, 1006, North 3rd, St. Louis [99] Fact. 1054, 1st Dist. MO
Cuban seed was successfully grown and modified in Maryland, and
its strain quickly spread. On the Mason-Dixon line, its soil was right for
cigar tobacco more than the cigarette/pipe/snuff/chewing tobacco grown
in the South. For reasons not yet clear, Baltimore became a major center
of small cigar production, Ellis & Co. being but one of the leaders in that
ares. The state had 614 Factories, 502 of which (82%) were in Baltimore.
As in Massachusetts, middle-size factories make up a hair shy of 20% of
the total (118 factories). All large Maryland factories were in Baltimore:
Baron & Co., Bank & Central Streets [149] Fact. 296, Dist. MD
H. Ellis & Co., Lombard & Charles Streets [100] Fact. 593, Dist. MD
Heineman Bros., 188 West Lombard [200] Fact. 712, Dist. MD
St. Mary’s Industrial School, Wilkens Ave. [200] Fact. 970, Dist. MD
Massachusetts appears to have first been home to cigar factories sometime in the 1760s or 1770s, rolling smokes before the Declaration of Independence was signed. Cuban cigar tobacco was successfully growing in the Springfield in the 1760s thanks to Colonel Israel Putnam who participated in the brief English take-over of Cuba in 1762 and returned home to New England with 30,000 cigars and enough seed to plant hundreds, if not thousands, of acres in tobacco. That’s not as difficult as it sounds since tobacco is one of the world’s tiniest seeds, a mere teaspoonful capable of planting about 200 acres. In 1885 Massachusetts had 616 cigar factories, a fraction below
20%, of which 119 were midsize. The 1885 Directory lists four factories
larger than 100. Two companies that would go on to become Boston’s
most successful, H. Traiser, maker of PIPPINS, and Waitt & Bond,
maker of BLACKSTONE, were mid-sized with around 50 rollers each.
F.P. Norton & Co., 48 India Boston [100] Fact. 133, Dist. 3, Mass.
Springfield Cigar Co., Springfield [200] Fact. 1, 10th Dist., Mass.
Towne, Fuller & Co., Springfield [150] Fact. 27, 10th Dist., Mass.
Atlantic Cigar Co., Westfield [100] Fact. 2, 10th Dist., Mass.
#5 NEW JERSEY
In the 1880s, New Jersey was home to a whopping 772 factories, nearly all of which were small, as only 56 (a mere 7%) had 10 or more rollers. Though Bordentown, Bridgeton, Burlington, Camden, Elizabeth, Long Branch, Millville, New Brunswick, Patterson, Plainfield, Trenton, and Union had more than a half-dozen factories each, it was Hoboken, Jersey City, and Newark (each with more than 50 factories) where the industry settled. Only Newark had a factory with enough rollers to be classified as large, though that situation would change over time as non-union flat-land New Jersey would attract Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic big-city companies desiring to relocate in new factories capable of handling machines. In 1885, the largest Jersey factory was:
John R. Williams & Co. 129 Oliver [150] Fact. 598, 5th Dist. NJ
Ohio was important for growing cigar tobacco, especially
Zimmmer and Little Dutch, as well as its 947 factories
scattered over 236 towns. Slightly more than one in every
three factories (326) had 10 or more employees.
CINCINNATI, in the 1st tax District of Ohio, was home to
39% of Ohio’s factories (368); of these 67 were mid-size
and 8 were large:
R.M. Bishop & Co, 114 East Pearl [200], Fact. 48
Fritz Bros., 125 Main [100], Fact. 113
Krohn, Feiss & Co., 7 East 6th St. [400], Fact. 14
Lowenthal & Co, 235 Sycamore [300], Fact. 3
J.H. Lucke & Co. 92 East 8th [100], Fact. 567
Newburger & Bro., 141 East Pearl [100], Fact. 18
Roth, Brunner & Feist, 150 West 4th St. [200], Fact. 387
H. Tietig & Bro., 15 East 6th St. [130], Fact. 76
CLEVELAND had 173 factories, 36 of them (21%) mid-size.
Hull, Boesger & Co., 215 Bank [100], Fact. 984, 18th Dist.
COLUMBUS had 47 factories, 29 of them (62%) mid-size.
F.D. Klotz [100], Fact. 239, 11th Dist. Ohio
DAYTON had 46 factories, 28 of which (60%) were mid-size.
Hanna Brothers [115], Fact. 297, 6th Dist. Ohio
Miller Brothers [155], Fact. 182, 6th Dist. Ohio
Ullman, Bloom & Co. [115], Fact. 272, 6th Dist. Ohio
MASSILLON had 8 factories, 3 medium, one large:
Peter Sailer [145], Fact. 714, 18th Dist. Ohio
McARTHUR had 4 factories 3 of which employed 10 or more.
`McLaughin & Co. [100], Fact. 237, 18th Dist. Ohio
URBANA had 2 small, 2 medium, and 1 large:
J.B. Hitt & Co. [100], Fact. 87, 10th Dist. Ohio
In 1885, the state of Illinois was home to 1,163 cigar factories, more than half of which (630) were in Chicago. Chicago’s 630 included 514 small factories (9 or fewer rollers), 112 medium size factories (10-90 rollers) and 4 large factories with 100 or more men and women rolling cigars. The rest of Illinois contained 533 factories scattered between 76 cities with Springfield, Quincy and Peoria the only cities with more than 10 cigar factories. For collectors and others attempting
to identify who made a particular box, statistically if it’s from the 1st tax
District of Illinois, there’s much better than even odds that it came from
Chicago. That city’s four largest cigar factories:
Berriman Bros, 198 Kinzie Street [140] Fact. 169, 1st Dist. ILL
B. Oppenheimer, 591 Larrabee Street [105] Fact. 853, 1st Dist. ILL
E. Vallens & Co., Clinton & Fulton streets [200] Fact. 6, 1st Dist. ILL
Vallencia Cigar Factory, 64 Wabash Ave. [150] Fact. 638, 1st Dist. ILL
# 2 NEW YORK
In the state of New York, a 19th and early 20th century cigar tobacco growing state, there were 364 cities and towns which provided homes for 4,495 cigar factories, of which 1,875 (41%) were operating in mid and lower Manhattan; no city in the world has ever come close to having as many cigar factories as New York City, not even Havana. At the city’s peak before WWI and the beginning of the Machine-Age, approximately 3,000 factories, including many of America’s largest, rolled cigars in Manhattan. As a historical footnote, the 2nd and 3rd tax Districts of New York were the only tax districts in the country to be located entirely within the boundaries of one city.
Although cigars rolled in Manhattan’s 3rd tax District were responsible for a high percentage of the cigar boxes collectors find today, other New York cities with significant cigar output include Albany, Binghamton, Brooklyn, Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse, but in contrast to Pennsylvania and some other states only 12 of New York’s 364 “cigar towns” were home to at least one large factory.
#1 PENNSYLVANIA
Pennsylvania was one of this country’s largest growers of cigar tobacco; cigar factories tend to cluster around where it is grown, but even then it is amazing that 719 Pennsylvania cities, towns and communities had at least one resident cigar factory. The statewide total was 4,658 cigar factories, 1,014 of which made cigars in Philadelphia. Of the state’s 4,658 factories, 773 (16.6%) employed 10 or more rollers, fairly evenly spread between urban and rural factories. In Philadelphia, 13.9% of that city’s 1014 factories were classified as medium to large size.
Pennsylvania’s large factories, those with 100 or more rollers, are listed below, as they will be for all the other top twenty cigar producing states.
ALLENTOWN had 60 factories, 6 with 10 or more rollers
Ruhe Bros. [190 rollers], Fact. 956 & 958, 1st Dist. PA
BOYERTOWN had 8 factories, 6 with 10 or more rollers
P.A. Brauss & Co. [150 rollers], Fact. 1827, 1st Dist. PA
J.D. Ochsenford [150 rollers], Fact. 33, 1st Dist. PA
EAST GREENVILLE had 8 factories, 6 with 10 or more rollers
W.M. Jacobs [205], Fact. 3466, 1st Dist. PA
EASTERN PENITENTIARY had only 1 factory, a large one:
M.J. Cassidy [100], Fact. 390, 1st Dist. PA
LANCASTER had 124 factories, 34 with 10 or more rollers
Conestoga Cigar Co. [100], Fact. 820, 9th Dist. PA
Moore & Co. [100], Fact. 1525, 9th Dist. PA
MOHNSVILLE’s 7 factories all had 10 or more rollers
John A. Bohler [100], Fact. 84 & Fact. 303, 1st Dist. PA
NEW HOLLAND had 12 factories, 3 with 10 or more rollers
Dillworth Bros. [100], Fact. 2115, 9th Dist. PA
PHILADELPHIA had 1,014 factories, 136 with 10 or more rollers,
all of them in the 1st tax Dist. of PA
Boltz, Clymer & Co., 50 North 3rd St. [200], Fact. 2715
Gumpert Bros, 23rd & Sansom [150], Fact. 2699
Gray, Morales & Dalton, 514 Pine [150], Fact. 262
H.A. Jeitles & Co., 1618 Chestnut [100], Fact. 100
Lichten Bros., 5th & Cherry [150]. Fact. 680
Mange, Weiner & Co., 1106 Montgomery Ave. [400], Fact. 121
Juan F. Portuondo, 1114 Sansom [100], Fact. 540
Antonio Roig & Langsdorf, 710 Arch [100], Fact. 872
Theobald & Opppenheimer, 111 North 3rd [100], Fact. 268
READING was home to 60 factories, 26 with 10 or more rollers
Glaser & Frame [150], Fact. 436, 1st Dist. PA
Lehr & Clark [100], Fact. 201, 1st Dist. PA
Monte Pluma Cigar Co. [150], Fact. 12, 1st Dist. PA
SCRANTON had 18 factories, 6 with 10 or more rollers
Garney, Brown & Co. [100], Fact. 82, 12th Dist. PA
Pennsylvania cities and towns with at least 8 cigar factories, but
no large ones, include: Adamstown, Akron, Alleghany (119 cigar
factories only two of which employed more than 15 rollers),
Bernville, Bethlehem. Bradford, Chambersburg, Chester, Columbia,
Corry, Dallastown (83 factories, the two largest of which employed
14 and 21 rollers), Denver, Douglass, East Prospect, Easton, Eliza-
bethtown, Ephrata (54 factories only two bigger than 11 rollers),
Erie, Frederick, Gilbertsville, Goodville, Hanover, Hanover Junction,
Harrisburg, Hartley, Hellam, Hinkletown, Jacobus, Lebanon, Lincoln,
Littlestown, Lititz, Lock Haven, Lower Windsor, Manchester, Manheim, Marlborough, Martindale, Marietta, Maytown, McKeesport, McSherrystown, Meadville, Mechanicsburg, Milford, Millersville, Mount Bethel, Mt. Joy, Newberrytown, Newberry Township, New Hanover, New Holland, New Salem, Norristown (home to W.K. Gresh), Paradise, Pennsburgh, Pittsburgh (178 factories, but only 4 larger than 20 rollers), Pottsville, Pottstown, Quakertown, Reamstown, Red Lion (55 factories, all but 5 of which employed fewer than 8 rollers), Relay, Rockhill (60 factories including Yocum Bros., then the largest with only 55 rollers), Rothsville, Sellersville, Seven Valley, Shrewsbury, Spring Garden, Spring Vale, Strasburg, Stony Brook, Strinestown, Terre Hill, Trumbauersville, Tylersport, Upper Hanover, Upper Salford, Vogansville, Washington, Warren, West Earl, Wilkes Barre, Williamsport, Windsor (89 small factories), Winterstown, Womelsdorf, Yorkana, and York (123 factories, none larger than 30 rollers), Another 20 or so cities had 7 factories.
ALBANY had 140 factories, 36 with 10 or more rollers but only two with more than 100:
Frank Chamberlain, 28 State St. [100] Fact. 25, 14th Dist. NY
G.W. Van Slyke & Co., [150] Fact. 219, 14th Dist. NY
BINGHAMTON, a nationally important non-Union town, had 50 factories, 18 of them mid-size and 7 very large ones:
Charles Butler & Co. [195] Fact. 219, 21st Dist. NY
Cook, Strickland & Co. [300] Fact. 548, 21st Dist. NY
Hull, Grummond & Co. [250] Fact. 227, 21st Dist. NY
George A. Kent & Co. [400] Fact. 3, 21st Dist. NY
M.J. O’Brien [100] Fact. 22, 21st Dist. NY
Shubmehl, Barrett & Co. [350] Fact. 690, 21st Dist. NY
H. Westcott, Son & Co. [300] Fact. 320, 21st Dist. NY
BROOKLYN had a whopping 900+ factories, a mere 30 of them (3%) were middle-size; the only large factory in the borough was:
Jensen & Wallach, 24 Adams St. [100] Fact. 54, 1st Dist. NY
BUFFALO was home to 125 factories, 31 with 10 or more rollers.
Beyer & Rupprecht, 19 Terrace [100] Fact. 596, 28th Dist. NY
Henry Breitwieser & Bros. [145] Fact. 216, 28th Dist. NY
JORDAN had only 4 small factories and one large one:
Daniel Evans [105] Fact. 684, 21st Dist. NY
MORRISANIA had 100 factories, 11 mid-size and 2 large ones:
Prettyman & Crawford [100] Fact. 559 , 15th Dist. NY
Jacob Stahl [400] Fact. 409, 15th Dist. NY
NEW YORK CITY’s 2nd tax District (Central Manhattan) had 350 factories, 123 of which were medium size and 12 were large:
A.W. Foote & Co., 125 Maiden Lane [150] Fact. 151
Chio & Rovira, 159-161 South 5th Ave. [200] Fact. 157
Herman Jacoby, 312-314 Bowery [100], Fact. 199
Jensen & Wallach, 133-135 Roosevelt [100] Fact. 43
Kimball, Crouse & Co., 35 Warren [200] Fact. 765
Lozano, Pendas & Co., 209-211 Pearl [400] Fact. 254
T.J. Plunket, 22 Bowery [125] Fact. 112
Palacios, Rodriguez & Co., 24 Gold St. [150] Fact. 424
D.E. Rose & Co., 18-20 Fulton [250] Fact. 28
M. Stachelberg & Co. 154-156 South 5th Ave. [295] Fact. 290
Isaac Telchman, 222 Greenwich [100] Fact. 101
Vallette & Mitchell Cigar Co., 26 Warren [250] Fact. 181
NEW YORK CITY’s 3rd Tax District (Lower Manhattan) had 1,525 total factories; of those 264 were mid-size, and 65 were large including 20 which had more than 500 rollers. New York City was the only place in the United States with such gargantuan factories capable of rolling as many as a quarter million cigars a day.
The largest NY factories (500+ rollers) are in red;
Factories in Blue are of collecting interest to the Museum.
Abraham Arens, 741 East 9th St. [150] Fact. 1184
Louis Ash & Co., 779 3rd Ave. [200] Fact. 1100
Albert Barkman, 223 East 73rd St. [100] Fact. 161
D.J. Boehm & Co., 204-206 East 43rd [150] Fact. 396
George Bence, 54-56 Pittsburgh [200] Fact. 509
Benedict & Co. 75th St. & Avenue A [200] Fact. 782
Bondy & Lederer, 70th St. & 1st Ave. [600] Fact. 294
Thomas Breslin, 402 East 64th St. [150] Fact. 974
Brown & Earle, 38th St. & 1st Ave. [1,000] Fact. 1307
Defiance Cigar Co., 229-233 East 41st St. [300] Fact. 973
Max Einstein & Co., 315-317 East 71st St. [200] Fact. 25
Foster, Hilson & Co., 39th St. & 1st Ave. [700] Fact. 1
Frey Bros., 1342-1348 Avenue A [300] Fact. 16
Louis Fromer, 170 East 77th St. [500] Fact. 352
William Glaceum, 119-121 Avenue D [150] Fact. 439
Thomas H. Hall, 209-211 East 37th St. [300] Fact. 17
Heyman Bros. & Lowenstein, 432 East 59th St. [300] Fact. 32
Joseph Hirsch, 737-739 1st Avenue [300] Fact. 482
Fred Hofmann, 323-329 East 73rd St. [300] Fact. 160
Holzmann & Dentschberger, 67th St. & 3rd Ave [250] Fact. 315
Simon Hood, 189 East 76th St. [200] Fact. 298
H. Ives, 407-409 East 91st St. [300] Fact. 15
Jacoby & Bookman, 338-342 East 38th [300] Fact. 366
S. Jacoby & Co., 447 E, 52nd St. [500] Fact. 3
Jacoby, Morris & Co., 336-342 East 38th St. [200] Fact. 109
Jaeger Bros., 1397-1399 Avenue A [150] Fact. 582
S. Josephs & Co., 324-334 East 63rd St. [175] Fact. 1000
Kahner & Merkel, 202 East 100th St. [500] Fact. 65
Kaufmann Bros. & Co., 1061 3rd Ave. [700] Fact. 975
Kaufmann Bros. & Bondy, 33rd & 1st Ave. [600] Fact. 4
Kerbs & Spiess, 54th St. & 2nd Ave. [750] Fact. 13
Kohn Bros. & Co., 322-326 East 45th St. [150] Fact. 95
Joseph Krauss, 337 East 75th St. [100] Fact. 340
Kurz & Co., 402-406 East 64th St. [300] Fact. 45
Landauer & Kaim, 410-412 East 64th St. [250] Fact. 106
Levy Bros, 18th St. & Avenue C [500] Fact. 401
Lewyn & Martin, 1228-1232 2nd Avenue [200] Fact. 34
Lichtenstein Bros Co., 707-717 2nd Avenue [750] Fact. 50
A. Lichtenstein & Son, 309 East 59th St. [300] Fact. 5
George P. Lies & Co., 80th St. & Avenue A [500] Fact. 200
John W. Love, 74th St. & 1st Ave. [800] Fact. 26
McCoy & Co., 182-190 Avenue C [550] Fact. 6
M.W. Mendel & Bro., 15 1/2 Bowery [400] Fact. 729
F.W. Mertens & Sons, 444-450 East 75th St. [150] Fact. 489
R. Monne & Bro., 211-229 East 33rd St. [500] Fact. 20
A. Moonelis & Co., 10th St. & Avenue D [500] Fact. 81
Emil Ney & Co., 222-224 East 37th [150] Fact. 1440
S. Ottenberg & Bros., 340-342 East 23rd [500] Fact. 1065
Powell, Wenigmann & Smith, 146 East 42nd [300] Fact. 39
Henry Rankin, 302 East 45th St. [100] Fact. 70
M. Rosenberg, 80-82 Clinton [150] Fact. 295
Rosenthal Bros., 343-351 East 73rd [400] Fact. 1030
L. Schwartzkopf & Co., 1329 Avenue A [100] Fact. 1139
Byron A. Shotwell, 282 9th Avenue [150] Fact. 1356
Seidenberg & Co., 327 East 63rd St. [300] Fact. 23
M. Silverthau & Co., 305-311 East 71st St. [500] Fact. 44
Martin Simons, 37-39 Bowery [500] Fact. 218
Morris Spiegel, 276-278 Bowery [100] Fact. 867
Steinecke & Kerr, 20 70th St. [250] Fact. 120
J. & H. Stern, 228 South St. [200] Fact. 254
Straiton & Storm, 204-208 East 27th St. [1,000] Fact. 11
Sutro & Newmark, 73rd St. & 2nd Ave. [1,000] Fact. 412
Carl Upmann, 406-408 East 59th St. [300] Fact. 253
Wertheim & Schiffer, 409 East 70th St. [300] Fact. 1116
Wilkinson, Gaddes & co., 167 East 84th St. [100] Fact. 400
ONEONTA had 6 factories, including 2 strong mid-size and:
Smith & Benham [100], Fact. 687, 21st Dist. NY
ROCHESTER had 88 factories, the largest being S.F. Hess with
50 rollers; 15 others were smaller mid-size.
SYRACUSE had 96 factories, 28 of which had at least 10 rollers.
John P. Hier [250], Fact. 412, 21st Dist. NY
Seubert & Warner [155], Fact. 203, 21st Dist. NY
TROY had 56 factories, 17 of mid-size, the largest being:
Fitzpatrick & Draper [75], Fact. 74, 15th Dist. NY
UTICA had 44 factories, 10 of which employed more than 10
rollers, the two largest of which were.
F.M. Kendrick & Co. [85], Fact. 5, 21st Dist. NY
Stevenss & Lockhart, [95], Fact. 75, 21st Dist. NY
#10 WISCONSIN
Wisconsin had 515 factories, 198 of them located in Milwaukee. The state had 90 mid-size, split half and half between Milwaukee and the rest of the state. There were only two large factories in the state, both in Milwaukee, but one of the two was the largest factory in the country not located in Manhattan:
Ed Aschermann & Co., Ferry & South Water, Milwaukee [150].
Fact. 2, 1st Dist. Wisc.
William Graf & Co., Milwaukee [700], Fact. 534. 1st Dist. Wisc.
445 Factories, 159 of which had 10 or more rollers
but only three Indiana factories employed more than 30,
the largest of which employed 71 rollers. For reasons not
clear, the state’s most famous maker, the Diamond Joe
Factory of H. Fendrich in Evansville, was not listed in
the Directory. Founded in 1850, it would become the
largest cigar maker in the country when its new factory
was built in 1912; the company lasted to celebrate its
100th birthday so the omission is puzzling. The building
pictured burned down in the early 1900s and was
replaced by a huge modern one, with 3,000 employees.
#12 CALIFORNIA
California’s 385 factories surprise many people, but shouldn’t when you consider the state had been part of Mexico, whose citizens had a long history of cigar smoking. Cigars had been part of California culture for so long that Cuban cigars were being shipped there before the gold rush and California’s admission to the Union in 1850. By 1885, at least three Cuban companies had set up branch factories in the state. The gold rush brought cigar rollers from Europe, Asia and South America. A bit more than 40% of the factories in California were mid-size or larger (156); that number includes one in Los Angeles and five in Oakland, all six of which barely qualified as mid-size, employing 10 rollers each at peak season. San Francisco, located in the 1st Dist. of Cal., was home to the remaining 150 mid and large size factories.
Max Armor & Co., 308 S Sacramento St., [100] Fact. 64
John Bowman & Co., 213 Battery St. [100] Fact. 178
Jose Blanco & Co., 206 Battery St. [200] Fact. 139
Cubanas Co., 406 Battery St. [150] Fact. 107
E. Goslinsky & Co., 219 Battery, S.F. [100] Fact. 71
Levy Hahn & Co., 420 Sansome St. [100] Fact. 189
Koenigsberger, Falk & Meyer, 117 Pine [150] Fact. 34
William Lewis, 24 California St. [300] Fact. 27
Liebes Bros. & Co., 16 Fremont St. [300] Fact. 401
Mayrisch Bros. & Co., 407 Battery St. [100] Fact. 149
I.S. Rosenbaum & Co., 28 Main St. [200] Fact. 456
Sideman, Lachman & Co., 211 Battery [100] Fact. 141
J.W. Shaeffer, 634 Sacramento St. [100] Fact. 349
The Western Mfg. Co., 302 Davis [150] Fact. 227
Yuma Co., 28 Jackson St. [100] Fact. 150
#13 CONNECTICUT
Connecticut, one of the first cigar states, was home to 286 factories, 34 of which are considered mid-size, but the largest had only 50 rollers.
Seventy-one towns had factories; the towns having the most, in order: Hartford with 38,
New Haven with 28, New Britain with 26, Suffield with 20, Bridgeport with 16, Norwich with 14, and Waterbury with 11.
Connecticut is better know for its tobacco than for its cigars. The photo left depicts 300 workers on one large farm.
#14 IOWA
256 factories, 66 of which had 10 or more employees, only one large factory. Davenport with 32 factories led the cities, but Burlington, Cedar Rapids, Council Bluffs, Des Moines, Dubuque, Keokuk, and Ottumwa all had a half dozen or more factories. Davenport’s Ferd Haak only had 40 rollers but would grow into one of Iowa’s all time most successful factories, but in 1885, by far the biggest in Iowa was:
Nicholas Kuhnen, Davenport, IA [200] Fact. 14, 2nd Dist. Iowa
A small Des Moines factory is seen right. Note the child wearing a worker’s apron.
Kentucky’s 213 factories made them home to more cigar factories than any Southern state. Cigar factories, because their profit margins were small, tended to live close to a source of tobacco. Being on the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, Kentucky was in the perfect spot to both import and export cigars and cigar tobacco. In the first decade of the 19th century (1804 is one year for which records are available) Kentucky actually exported tobacco down the Mississippi to New Orleans and on to Cuba to help that country meet the enormous demand for cigars that was beginning worldwide.
Kentucky’s ratio of mid-size factories was similar to most other states; their 37 factories with more than 10 rollers were 17% of the total, but the state had only one large factory.
R. N. Ewell & Co., Louisville [125] Fact. 341, Dist. 5 Ky.
#16 MINNESOTA
Minnesota is seldom thought of as a big cigar state, but in 1885 had 167 Factories, 42 of which (25%) qualified as mid-size factories and two, one in each of the Twin Cities, could be counted among the large. The state wasn’t finished growing. Eight years later, 288 cigar factories were in residence in Minnesota, 55 in Minneapolis and another 80 in St. Paul. Both of 1885‘s large factories were still thriving, joined by a third biggie, Hart & Murphy (pictured right), originally established in 1857.
Hooker and Manly, Minneapolis [100] Fact. 160,
Dist. Minn.
Kuhles & Stock, St. Paul [100] Fact. 106, Dist. Minn
#17 FLORIDA
In 1885, Florida had 152 factories, 122 of which (a full 80%) employed 10 or more rollers, including 47 with 100+ rollers and 2 with 500. Florida factories were large Spanish hand-made enterprises in the Cuban tradition and for the most part made “clear Havanas” (cigars made in the US of exclusively imported Cuban tobacco). All of Florida was one tax district, so boxes are marked “Dist. Fla.” without a District number. In 1885, one large factory was in Jacksonville, two were in Tampa and the other 44 were in Key West:
El Modelo Cigar Mfg Co., Jacksonville [200] Fact. 94
Sanchez & Haya, Tampa [150] Fact. 1, Dist. Fla.
Ybor, Martinez & Co., Tampa [500] Fact. 6
The rest were in Key West:
Jose A. Alfonso [150] Fact. 145, Dist Fla.
Jose R. Angulo [150] Fact. 46
Baez, Milord & Co. [150] Fact. 107
M. Barranco & Co. [100] Fact. 43
J.R. Benitez [100] Fact. 109
D.J. Boehm & Co. [100] Fact. 22
E.G. Badia [200] Fact. 85
Jose E. Cortaya & Co. [100] Fact. 176 & Fact. 177
E. Canals [100] Fact. 57 & Fact. 106
A. Candales & Co. [100] Fact. 171
A.M. Castillo & Co. [150] Fact. 33
N.F. Castillo & Co. [150] Fact. 39
L.B. Conde [300] Fact. 36 & Fact. 88 & Fact. 152
Corral & Co. [100] Fact. 110
Cruz Bros. [100] Fact. 91, Fact. 141
J. Ellinger & Co. [350] Fact. 58, Fact. 69
B. Fernandez & Bros. [150] Fact. 42, Fact. 86
Fernandez & Co. [100] Fact. 76
M.E. Flaherty & Co. [100] Fact. 83
Edwardo H. Gato [150] Fact. 13
Edwardo H. Gato [150] Fact. 38
M. Gonzales & Co. [100] Fact. 87
J.H. Gregory [200] Fact. 10
Greenhall & Zemansky [100] Fact. 470
Gonzales & Bourjolly [200] Fact. 130
James Harrison & Co. [100] Fact. 116
H.R. Kelly & Co. [200] Fact. 16
R.A. Lord & Co. [100] Fact. 17
Francisco Marrero [200] Fact. 51
M.E. McDowell & Co. [100] Fact. 20
R.S. Maria [100] Fact. 96
Navarro Bros. [100] Fact. 108
J.M. Navarro [100] Fact 26, Fact. 44
G.W. Nichols [100] Fact. 158
Teodoro Perez [100] Fact. 18, Fact. 99
C. Palacio & Co. [400] Fact. 60
A. del Pino & Brothers. [200] Fact. 82
del Pino Brothers [100] Fact. 55
G.W. Reynolds & Co. [100] Fact. 124
A. Rodriguez [100] Fact. 157, Fact. 166
Seidenberg & Co. [600] Fact. 8, Fact. 48, Fact. 53
Cayetano Soria [370] Fact. 23, Fact 75, Fact. 105
V. Toledo & Co [100] Fact. 27
Pino Villamil & Co. [100] Fact. 135
Surprisingly, very few boxes from these big factories turn up today.
#18 KANSAS
Kansas had 149 Factories, 33 of which were mid-size; the largest Kansas factory had 45 rollers.
148 Factories, 30 of which were mid-size, one of which was large:
Smythe, Woodson & Payne, Lynchburg [150], Fact. 71, 6th Dist. VA
A few years later Factory 17 in the 2nd tax district would become the state’s largest by far.
#20 LOUISIANA
Louisiana was home to 100 cigar factories, 93 of which were in New Orleans. In that city were 30 mid-size factories, one large one and one very large, the third largest factory outside of New York.
S. Hernsheim & Bros, Julia & Magazine Streets., [600] Fact. 511
J.P. Sarrazin, Poydras & Tchoupitoulas Sts. [100] Fact. 13
