Location of Early 20th Century Cigar Factories in Dover; and Using York County Directories
Jason Gross commented about Dover Cigar Factories in reply to a post in my series counting down the Top 50 York County Factories at End of 19th Century. On a visit to the Library of the York County Heritage Trust, I decided to see how many Early 20th Century Dover Cigar Factories could be located.
As you can see by the illustration, I was able to locate 7 cigar factories in Dover. If any reader knows cigar factories that I missed, please comment. Read on to see how I located these factories.
The Library of the York County Heritage Trust has a large collection of York City and County Directories. You can’t miss them as you enter the library. The directories are on shelves facing you; right beside the collection of High School Yearbooks.
All locations, except location of the Dover Cigar Company, came from the 1904 York County Directory by Polk & Company. The 1904 listings are from pages 44, 45 and 46.
The later Dover Cigar Company was from a 1919 directory. The previously discovered John C. Herman Cigar Manufacturer, had the same location as the Dover Cigar Company; I assume that the Dover Cigar Company is a successor to John Herman’s Cigar Factory.
For these 7 cigar factories, here is what the location looks like in towns that do not yet have street addresses:
- 1 Dover Cigar Company Main s Canal
- 2 Robert W. Hummer Cigar Mnfr Main n w cor Mayfield
- 3 John W. Lauer Cigar Mnfr w s Main 3 s Fox run
- 4 Henry G. Miller Cigar Mnfr w s Main 5 s Mayfield
- 5 Clay M. L. Strayer Cigar Mnfr w s Main 3 s Canal
- 6 Amos Swartz & Son Cigar Mnfr s s E Canal 1 e Main
- 7 Zeibe B. Toomey Cigar Mnfr n s E Canal 5 e Main
For example Main n w cor Mayfield means Northwest corner of Main and Mayfield. The w s Main 3 s Fox run location, translates into West side of Main, 3 buildings South of Fox run.
In judging spacing for buildings, remember do not use current buildings, but use buildings that existed in the time period of the directory consulted. Here I’ve used 1905/1920 Topographic Maps, because Dover falls at a split between maps; where matching map dates are not available. Looking back and forth between period and current maps, or aerial photo, one can judge the approximate buildings distance.
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