American Cigar Company, two historic cigar factory buildings located at Norfolk, Virginia
The American Cigar Company building is a 1903 factory in Norfolk consisting of two main structures: a four-story brick processing building and a smaller two-story boiler house. Both buildings feature simple rectangular forms with large windows and were designed functionally for cigar manufacturing.
The factory was founded in 1903 as part of the American Tobacco Company to process tobacco leaves and manufacture cigars. In 1917, a strike by about 600 Black women led to an organized labor movement demanding better wages and working conditions, though their demands were not fully met.
The factory name connects to the American Tobacco Company that established it. Many workers, especially Black women from the community, made this workplace significant for people who had few other job options outside domestic service.
The building sits next to railroad tracks and was optimally positioned for material transport. The site is visible from the street, but it is not a public museum and interior tours are typically not available.
The factory is noted for leaf stemming work, a manual process essential for cigar production that set it apart from other manufacturing facilities. This operation connected directly to the 1917 strike by the Women Wage Earner's Association, one of the earliest organized labor actions by Black women in the region.
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