Cigar Factory

On Court Street Behind the Historic Chamber of Commerce Building

Photographed by Brian Scott, February 20, 2010

1. Cigar Factory Marker

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Photographed by Brian Scott, February 20, 2010

2. Cigar Factory Marker -
Looking East along South Main (Pendleton) Street

Description: The four-story, rectangular brick building was built ca. 1902 by the American Improvement Company. The doors and windows have segmental arch openings. Each of the segmental arched window openings contains two double-hung sash windows that are divided by mullions and have six-over-nine lights. The low pitched gable roof has a projecting eave supported by large tile beams and sleepers. The interior consists of large open areas on each floor with few partitions. The floors are supported by wooden posts.

Significance: The American Cigar Factory was one of the largest brick buildings in Greenville when it was constructed ca. 192 by the American Improvement Company. This building was one of five factories the American Cigar Company located in the South. Situated in the heart of the central

Photographed by Brian Scott, February 20, 2010

3. National Register of
Historic Places Medallion

business district, it employed 150 girls and young women when it began production. On 23 November 1903 The State newspaper reported that the American Cigar Factory was "gradually and surely developing its usefulness as an industrial feature of this city. Two hundred and fifty girls and young women have been given employment and every day there are some added to this number..." The American Cigar Factory represents the type of business and factory diversity that Greenville attracted at the turn of the century. It is one of the largest brick masonry buildings remaining in the downtown area and reflects the industrial growth of Greenville at the turn of the century. The Stone Manufacturing Company, a clothing firm which presently used the building for storage, plans to adapt it for office space. (Source: National Register nomination form.)

The site of the cigar factory occupies lots 10 and 11 of the original town plan laid out by Lemuel Alston in 1797. Several homes must have stood on the property before a blacksmith built

Photographed by Brian Scott, February 20, 2010

4. American Cigar Factory -
West Facade

his shop on the corner of East Court and Falls Streets by the mid-1880s. A mule shed was added by 1888 on the site where the American Cigar Factory would be built. By then the street became a thoroughfare for businessmen to haul their goods to the freight warehouse and depot at the end of the railroad line just to the east.

At the turn of the century, Greenville's economy was dominated by textiles. Local leaders looked to the burgeoning cigar industry to expand the city's business profile and contracted J.E. Sirrine to build a large brick building on the northwest corner of East Court and Falls Streets in 1903 (a year later the Salvation Army opened its Greenville work in a tent next to the cigar factory). The four-story building was 137 feet by 60 feet and was one of the largest structures in the city at the time (the Camperdown and Huguenot mills were only two stories). The American Cigar Company came to Greenville with high expectations from locals. Besides diversifying Greenville's economy, the factory also opened up employment for hundreds of women to hand roll the cigars. Soon after opening, employees reached an astounding output

Photographed by Brian Scott, February 20, 2010

5. American Cigar Factory -
Southeast Corner

of nearly half a million cigars per week. By 1909, the City Directory lists that Seidenberg & Co. took over the facility. The Seidenbergs began their company in Key West and were the first to import tobacco into the United States and manufacturer Havana cigars.

After almost three decades of production, financial difficulties brought on by the Great Depression caused the factory to shut down. Soon the Piedmont Shirt Company moved in, bringing the building into the realm of the city's buoyant textile industry. Apparel production continued a decade later when Stone Manufacturing took over the building.

As the business continued to grow, Stone needed to relocate to a new, larger facility. Furthermore, the working conditions at the old cigar factory were extremely difficult in the summer heat. -- as they had been for local textile mills since their inception. Stone's new facility at Webster and Calvin Streets in 1948 became the first air-conditioned and heated garment factory in the city. Maxon Shirt Corp took over the East Court Street plant for a number of years until Stone Manufacturing reoccupied it in 1958 with needs for additional

Photographed by Brian Scott, February 20, 2010

6. East Skyline of Downtown Greenville

From Left to Right: Old Chamber of Commerce Building, Westin Poinsett Hotel, American Cigar Factory

production facilities.

The old cigar factory was vacated in 1994. Three years later, textile mogul Mark Kent bought it and invested over $4 million in renovations. Today the building (with modern additions) is on the National Register of Historic Places and houses office and restaurant space. (Source: A Guide to Historic Greenville, South Carolina by John M. Nolan (2008) pgs 68-70.)

Photographed by Mark Parker, October 25, 2024

7. Cigar Factory Marker in front of 820 South Main Street

Photographed by Mark Parker, October 25, 2024

8. Cigar Factory Marker looking east on South Main Street