May 21, 2024
6:45pm
For over 75 years thousands of cigars were produced in downtown Plattsburgh. Hear the story of our own flourishing cigar industry and the families that managed it using photos and artifacts from the CCHA Collection.
Plattsburgh, from the 1860s through to the Second World War, was a manufacturing center for the 5 cent cigar. The smell of a quality cigar could be detected walking down Margaret Street between Court and Broad Streets. What began with small businesses in the late 1860s, turned into a major c for the thanks to the Scheier, Mendelsohn, Levy, Merkel and Payette families, to name a few.
The handmade cigar industry in Plattsburgh employed dozens of workers and produced thousands of cigars.
