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A Look at Brooklyn, then and now.

From before 1866 to 1879, and perhaps beyond, the Pioneer Tobacco Factory stood along the north side of Hicks Street, spanning the entire block between Baltic and Warren Streets, in Cobble Hill. It was owned by W. W. Huse, who had operated the company as W.W. Huse Tobacco, as well as the Hunt & Co. Tobacco Company at this location, before he changed the name yet again. Hunt & Co/Pioneer Tobacco was one of the largest operations in the country. They, like several other Brooklyn tobacco factories, manufactured and packaged plug tobacco: yep, chawin’ tobaccy. Chewing tobacco was extremely popular during the post-Civil War period, especially in the Western part of the country, but gained popularity in the East, as well. Pioneer’s tobacco used a finer quality of leaf, flavored with sugar and licorice, and it sold extremely well. This large factory produced $2.5 million worth of chewing tobacco in 1872, and employed 450 people. I was unable to find out when the factory closed, but by 1898, the Peak’s Wall Paper Company was in this location. Alfred Treadway White’s Tower and Home Buildings, and Workingman’s Cottages were begun in 1876 through 1879, and are directly across the street. The factory building was probably destroyed when Robert Moses cut the BQE through Red Hook in the 1940’s.

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(Drawing: Harper’s Magazine 1872)

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(Photo: Google Maps)


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