Charleston Cigar Factory
National Register Listing
Street Address:
701 East Bay Street, Charleston (Charleston County)
Alternate Name:
Charleston Manufacturing Company; Charleston Cotton Mills; American Cigar Company Building
NRHP Nomination
NHL Nomination
Record Number:
S10817710113
Description and Narrative:
The Charleston Cigar Factory is listed in the National Register for its local significance as a largely intact example of a late nineteenth century industrial plant built in the Victorian commercial style. Also important for its contributions to Charleston’s economy from post-Reconstruction through the Great Depression and on into the 1970s, the firm was incorporated as the Charleston Manufacturing Company in 1880 and has been in operation since construction of the building was completed in 1882. Originally built as a textile factory, the building became locally known as the Cigar Factory when the American Cigar Company purchased the property in 1912. The property is also nationally significant and designated as a National Historic Landmark as the location of an important strike by members of the Food, Tobacco, and Allied Workers (FTA) union from October 1945 through March 1946. Black women were the predominant leaders of the strike. Strikers adapted a song that became the precursor of the civil rights anthem "We Shall Overcome." The strike led to a major effort to organize workers in the South by the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), known as "Operation Dixie." The main building is five stories of brick in common bond with a flat metal roof, and central six-story brick water tower, which also houses an elevator. Immediately adjacent to the water tower is a four-story masonry addition without windows, which was part of the cooling and dehumidifying system added during the Cigar Factory period (1912-1973). The property also includes a ca. 1885 two-story brick addition, a two-story brick office building used originally as the picker house, two two-story brick engine houses, and a one-story brick boiler house. The boiler house also has an associated five-story brick chimney. The building is one of the few surviving large-scale industrial buildings from the Victorian era in Charleston. Listed in the National Register November 25, 1980. Designated a National Historic Landmark on September 2, 2024.
Period of Significance:
circa 1882;19th century;20th century;1945 – 1946
Level of Significance:
Local;National
Area of Significance:
Industry;Architecture
National Register Determination:
listed
Date of Certification:
November 25 1980
Date of Certification as a National Historic Landmark:
September 2 2024
