Cigar Factory on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
The Cigar Factory is a historic industrial building at 701 East Bay Street in 
A $30 million redevelopment of the structure began in 2014. By 2017, the factory was mostly leased. Current businesses in the building include restaurants, salons, an event venue, and an ophthalmologist's office.
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atla ...
. It was constructed in 1881 and opened in 1882 as the Cotton Mill of Charleston. In 1912, it was purchased by the American Cigar Company who converted it into a cigar factory that was the largest private employer in Charleston during the 1930s. In the 1940s, it was the location of the 1945–1946 Charleston Cigar Factory strike
The 1945–1946 Charleston Cigar Factory strike was a labor strike involving workers at the Cigar Factory in Charleston, South Carolina, United States. The strike commenced on October 22, 1945, and ended on April 1 of the following year, with ...
where the civil rights anthem "We Shall Overcome
"We Shall Overcome" is a gospel song that is associated heavily with the U.S. civil rights movement. The origins of the song are unclear; it was thought to have descended from "I'll Overcome Some Day," a hymn by Charles Albert Tindley, while t ...
" emerged. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
in 1980, and was designated a National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...
in 2024.
A $30 million redevelopment of the structure began in 2014. By 2017, the factory was mostly leased. Current businesses in the building include restaurants, salons, an event venue, and an ophthalmologist's office.
References