Drummond Tobacco Building

[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

[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.