Drummond Tobacco Building

[smokelessjoe]

I have been trying to do some research on my "Drum Cigarettes" flyer pictured below. I found a picture of the Drummond building, along with some information about the company. I thought I would post for your enjoyment.

Sorry if this article has been posted before.

[canjond]

[toppcat]

Great stuff guys!

[Leon]

another Drummond Coupon...

[ethicsprof]

I love this research and my one T206 Drum back and my one 1910 Drum pouch.
Now I long for the day that i can add T206 Drum pack to this list.

best,
barry

[canjond]

I should clarify that the Drum pack is not mine. To date, it is the only Drum pack I have ever found to exist and as you can see, it unfortunately predates the T-206 era. The ATC acquired Drummond sometime in the late 1890's although I forget the exact year.

[jimonym]

The U.S. government report on the ATC (which grew out of the investigation and antitrust cases) states that the Drummond Tobacco Company was purchased by the American Tobacco Company for $3,457,500 cash in October 1898.

[ethicsprof]

a little more than the cost of a Wagner 206......
nowadays

best,

barry

[tedzan]

This has always puzzled me about the DRUM cards (circa 1910). The Drummond plant was in St Louis;
and, many T206 DRUM card finds have been from the St Louis area, However, printed on the backs of
the DRUM cards is "Factory 25".
This American Tobacco Co. plant was in Richmond, VA; and by Federal law, these advertising premiums
had to be inserted in DRUM cigarette packs from that VA district. Therefore by 1910, had the DRUM to-
bacco production switch to VA ?

Can someone here explain this apparent contradiction ? ?


TED Z

[toppcat]

Originally Posted by tedzan

This has always puzzled me about the DRUM cards (circa 1910). The Drummond plant was in St Louis;
and, many T206 DRUM card finds have been from the St Louis area, However, printed on the backs of
the DRUM cards is "Factory 25".
This American Tobacco Co. plant was in Richmond, VA; and by Federal law these advertising premiums
had to be inserted in DRUM cigarette packs from VA.

Can someone here explain this contradiction ?


TED Z

Perhaps the St Loo plant was shut down for some reason and the cigs had to be packaged in Richmond? Might help explain their rarity as they were never able to mfgr cigs in St Loo and far less Drum backs were printed in Richmond for this brand?

[jimonym]

Ted,

The report I quoted from above does say that the plant (by 1910 anyway) was permanently closed.

Shawn's article points out also that the plant was known for producing plug tobacco. Although apparently there was a small bit of leeway, the Internal Revenue Bureau had established regulations that prohibited different types of tobacco manufacture from occurring on the same premises, seemingly because it was too difficult to track revenue due on tobacco when various kinds of manufacturing were occurring under one roof. The factory numbering system was one way of ensuring that the government knew what was being made where. Factory 25 in Richmond, as a cigar and cigarette factory, was permitted to produce cigars, cigarettes, cheroots, and little cigars, but any leftover scraps that ended up as another form of tobacco had to be manufactured and packaged in that other form in another factory. The same was true through the Trust.

[rhettyeakley]

This adds essentially nothing to the discussion, but it is loosely associated, also I had forgotten who I had sold that Drum coupon to until Leon posted it and it all came back...



-Rhett

[canjond]

Originally Posted by tedzan

This has always puzzled me about the DRUM cards (circa 1910). The Drummond plant was in St Louis;
and, many T206 DRUM card finds have been from the St Louis area, However, printed on the backs of
the DRUM cards is "Factory 25".
This American Tobacco Co. plant was in Richmond, VA; and by Federal law, these advertising premiums
had to be inserted in DRUM cigarette packs from that VA district. Therefore by 1910, had the DRUM to-
bacco production switch to VA ?

Can someone here explain this apparent contradiction ? ?


TED Z

Ted - it could be as simple as that based on Drum's former headquarters in St. Louis, the brand had its greatest popularity there.

[tedzan]

JAMIE and JON

By 1905, Factory 25 in Richmond, VA was the prime center of ATC's tobacco production....and, Factory 42 in Durham, NC
was quickly expanding.

James B. Duke realized the efficiency and economic advantages of producing tobacco in the South. Annual wages in New
York ($520), New Jersey ($460, St. Louis ($425), etc. were approximately 2x that of the VA ($255) and NC ($240) plants.
Furthermore, the combination of women and children employees by then were equal to male employment at these factories.
However, they were paid considerably less than the males.

Factory 25 produced the two most popular brands......

PIEDMONT
SWEET CAPORAL

also,

AMERICAN BEAUTY
BROAD LEAF
(North) CAROLINA BRIGHTS
CYCLE
DRUM
OLD MILL
SOVEREIGN

Therefore, regarding DRUM tobacco production, the St Louis plant was no longer efficient to keep in operation. The DRUM
production was transferred to Richmond. And, based on our experience in recovering DRUM cards (T205's and T206's), we
can safely speculate that Richmond shipped most of their DRUM product out to the St Louis area (circa 1910).


TED Z

[smokelessjoe]

Not sure if this is any help, but notice that on the two sheets that I pulled from the American Tobacco Co. report that there is a quantity for "Drum" brand coming from the "P. Lorillard Co." and the "Liggett & Myers - Drummond Branch" for 1911.

It actually reads: "Drum - 2 Oz. Tins"

Again, not sure what this means?

[smokelessjoe]

TedZ,

I think the St. Louis plant was still in operation as of Dec. 31, 1910. It is referred to as the Liggett Myers - Drummond Branch of which shows production of the Drum brand at that time. Albeit in 2 Oz. Tins????

[tedzan]

The Liggett & Myers (L & M) plant in 1911 was Factory 42 in Durham, NC. I have a colorful vintage postcard of it, and I'll post it later.

The P. Lorillard Co. plant was in New Jersey.

The Drum brand Tins I think are cut plug tobacco. And, like Jamie noted earlier different factories produced different forms of tobacco.

I'm certain that Factory 25 (Richmond) produced the DRUM cigarette brand in the 1910-1911 era.

Thanks for starting this thread.


TED Z

[smokelessjoe]

Hi Ted,

Yes, Liggett & Myers did have a plant in Durham... But they also had a plant in St. Louis called the Ligget & Myers - Drummond Branch. I will not disagree with you on the location of where the Drum "cigarette" brand was produced (I cannot tell), but they did produce the "Drum" brand in St. Louis in the 1910-1911 era.

[tedzan]

Oh, I do not doubt that there was an L & M plant in St Louis (circa 1911). I am sure you are right.

With respect to T206 and T205 cards, the L & M Factory (#42) in N.C. was the plant where these
cards were inserted into cigarette packs in 1911.

Here is a vintage p/c of this plant......





TED Z

[jimonym]

I've actually done a fair bit of research on the ATC facilities. When I had more free time I had visions of a comprehensive and elaborate website...

Circa 1910 the ATC had three plants operating in St. Louis:
1. The Brown Branch, located on the block between 3rd, 4th, Spruce, and Valentine Streets.
2. The Catlin Branch, located at the corner of Lawrence Street and Park Avenue.
3. The Liggett & Myers-Drummond Branch, which was a sprawling facility between Folsum Street and Park Avenue at Thurman Boulevard.

In its history, the ATC had acquired these St. Louis tobacco companies:
1895: the James G. Butler Tobacco Company, manufacturer of plug tobacco
1898: the Brown Tobacco Company, manufacturer of plug tobacco
1898: the Drummond Tobacco Company, primarily a manufacturer of plug tobacco
1899: the Catlin Tobacco Company, manufacturer of smoking and fine cut tobacco
1899: the Liggett & Myers Tobacco Company, primarily a manufacturer of plug tobacco, but which had recently begun manufacturing cheap cigarettes as a direct attack on the Trust -- following purchase, the cigarette production was shut down
1901: the Wellman Dwire Tobacco Company, manufacturer of plug tobacco
1901: the M.C. Whetmore Tobacco Company, manufacturer of plug tobacco

The companies were closed and/or consolidated, with the brand names living on in most instances. As an example of the shifting and consolidation, Shawn's article in the first post of this thread seems to be describing what was later to be known as the Brown Branch, while Drummond got folded into L&M at a different location.


The Factory 42 location in Durham was known as the Duke Branch (formerly W. Duke & Sons) until the dissolution in 1911, after which it became part of the new Liggett & Myers Company.