Made in Nanticoke
White Owl Cigar Box
General Cigar Mill
Cigars
White Owl Cigars, introduced in 1917, was one brand of cigar manufactured in Nanticoke by the General Cigar Company. The factory, which operated from 1911-1971, was located at 154 West Church Street. General Cigar operated another factory, once the largest cigar factory in the world, across the river in Forty Fort. General cigar employed 2000 workers at its peak, mostly women. Company-sponsored bowling teams, men & women, participated in the Cigar Mill League and were named after the brands produced at these plants: White Owls, Robert Burns, Van Dycks, William Penns..
Cigar boxes were involved in a series of local deadly bombings, known as the Good Friday bombings, that were linked to coal mining labor disputes. A cigar box used in such a manner is depicted on the Smithsonian National Postal Museum website and the incident was the subject of a segment on Mysteries at the Museum.
Resources for further study:
Byrne, Harriet A. The effects on women of changing conditions in the cigar and cigarette industries. Vol. 100. US Govt. print. off., 1932.
Cooper, Patricia A. Once a cigar maker : men, women, and work culture in American cigar factories, 1900-1919. Univserity of Illinois Press, 1987.
Cooper, Patricia A. ""What This Country Needs Is a Good Five-Cent Cigar"." Technology and Culture 29, no. 4 (1988): 779-807. doi:10.2307/3105045.
Cosner, Charlotte. 2014. The golden leaf: how tobacco shaped Cuba and the Atlantic world.
Tinajero, Araceli. El Lector : A History of the Cigar Factory Reader. University of Texas Press, 2010. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.mutex.gmu.edu/lib/georgemason/detail.action?docID=3443451.
Beer
Beer was brewed by Virginia colonists in 1587, and the shortage of beer on the Mayflower is said to be why Pilgrims pulled ashore Plymouth Rock. The first brewery in Pennsylvania was built in 1683; by the 1980s, Pennsylvania topped the chart in the number of breweries: 865 (runners up being New York, 723 and California 454), including the oldest continually running brewery, Yuengling.
The first Nanticoke brewery was George W. Flock Brewing Company (1875-1897) which was taken over by George Stegmaier, a German immigrant, and renamed the Susquehanna Brewing Company (1897-1920), which was controlled by Stegmaier (largest in PA?). The Susquehanna Brewing Company would be revived in 2010 by a Stegmaier descendant (the Stegmaier name having been sold off to Lion Brewery) and located in Pittston. The Nanticoke brewing tradition was revived in 2009 by Benny's Brewing which operated in Nanticoke, dispensing the microbrew in Marty's Blue Room and eventually expanding to its own brewpub down the road in Hanover Township.
Susquehanna Brewing Company
Resources for further study:
Bull, Donald, Manfred Friedrich, and Robert Gottschalk. 1984. American breweries. Trumbull, Conn: Bullworks.
Janosov, Robert A. Cold and Gold from the Poconos: A History of the Stegmaier Brewing Company, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Nanticoke, Pa: Tres Canis, 1997.
Kashatus, William C. "Stegmaier Brewed Beer and a Regional History." Pennyslvania Heritage v.38, no.4, Fall 20120
"http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/portal/communities/pa-heritage/stegmaier-brewed-beer-regional-history.html."
Noon, Mark A. Yuengling: A History of America's Oldest Brewery. McFarland, 2005.
Chocolate mold
Pelas Candy Store
Candy
Pelas Confectionery was located at 406 Front Street in the Hanover Section of Nanticoke. Mary Knapich owned a grocery store at this location when she met George Pelas, a Greek immigrant who had learned the candy business. The Pelas family made chocolate confections through nine decades over 5 generations. The rabbit pictured here was named the Frank Thimm bunny, after a friend and loyal customer. Jack Pelas continued making candy with his brothers and sisters and running the store until he passed away in 2003. The store closed in 2004.
Other shops making chocolate candy included Diamond's, located on the square and Fuller's, on Market Street.
PNC Bank Bag
A. Rifkin factory, 167 E. Church St.
Money Bags and Shoes
The A. Rifkin company manufacted money bags for various banks. The factory was located on East Church Street in Nanticoke. It is now located in Wilkes-Barre.
Penn Lee Footware had a factory in Nanticoke. It closed in 1993.
Kielbasa (Polish sausage)
The Swantko family made kielbasa in the Hanover section of Nanticoke for over 60 years. Nanticoke had other family kielbasa shops. Jerry's has been making kielbasa for six generations; Tarnowski's for almost 70 years.