When the new building was completed in October, 1889, Colonel Smith quietly ran his business as a leaf storage warehouse for three years. They were originally located on Chesrnut Street, near Fourth. The following year, with his sons Henry and Sterling, he founded W.F. In 1882, he was appointed as an officer of the U.S. He married a local girl and followed his father into the tobacco leaf business. Camel quickly became the number one selling cigarette in the world and so the city of Winston-Salem, already branded the Twin City, acquired a second nickname, the Camel City.īut what if that nickname should have been the Magnolia City? William Forbes Smith was born in Milton, Caswell County, NC in 1837. Reynolds introduced four test brands of cigarette…Reyno, Red Kamel, Osman and Camel…and in late 1912 had introduced Camel as the first national cigarette brand. The local story has always gone that in 1912, after the American tobacco trust had safely been busted, R.J. But Duke and his cohorts had already begun to focus on the more profitable cigarette business. In those days, virtually all tobacco production in Winston and elsewhere in North Carolina was focused on chewing tobacco, with a bit of smoking…that is pipe…tobacco thrown in, with a smidgin of snuff. Smith in 1889.Ĭonsidering the times, when Washington Duke of Durham had just begun his American Tobacco trust in an attempt to gain control of the world tobacco market, we might suspect Colonel Smith of engaging in a bit of deception. It plays a role in our story, but the heart of the matter is the somewhat mousy gray five story step gable building across Fourth Street, also a part of the current Piedmont Leaf Lofts, but originally built as yet another leaf storage warehouse by Colonel W.F. Another is the grand six story building with a mansard roof with hip roofed gables that bears the “Piedmont Leaf Lofts” logo, facing on Vine Street at the corner of Fourth, built in 1893 at a cost of $11,000 as a leaf storage warehouse by the Brown Brothers tobacco company. Nissen wagon repository, facing on the old Depot Street at Third, which sold, repaired and painted wagons and buggies. Right at the center of the IQ, there are three, the only three still standing. Where have they gone? Are any of them left? In the late 19th century, there were dozens upon dozens of such buildings concentrated along the railroad between Main Street and the present US 52. I currently work in the Forsyth County Government Center, which was originally buildings 12A and 12B (1916-17) of the R.J. The Innovation Quarter is building itself upon a goodly collection of early 20th century tobacco buildings. While trying to illustrate that point, I stumbled upon an extraordinary story that has been missing from our history for over a century. Without the “less old” fortunes created by the 19th and 20th century tobacco and textile industries, neither Old Salem, the past, nor the Innovation Quarter, the present and future, would exist. Now part of the Brookstown Inn.īut “old” does not necessarily equate to “more important”. The Salem Cotton Manufacturing Company mill, built in 1836. And outside the Old Salem district, but still in the Salem part of town, are the two oldest factory buildings in Forsyth County, the 1836 Salem Cotton Manufacturing Company, now operating as the Brookstown Inn, and the 1880 Arista Mill, which houses the Winston-Salem Vistor Center and other offices, both on Brookstown Avenue. Well, yes, Salem does have a lot of “old stuff”, including a number of restored 18th century buildings, and they do a great job of using those resources to give us a sense of where we came from. What old stuff do we have in the Winston part of town?” While I was receiving reports on that, one person said “Wow, Salem has a lot of old stuff. As always, some of the images can be viewed at larger size by clicking on themĪugust 12-14 I was in New York for food and art and jazz, so missed the official Salem 250 celebration on the square.
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