Last tobacco maker in Petersburg ends local operations

PETERSBURG, VA (The Progress-Index) - The city's last remaining tobacco manufacturing company has closed its headquarters here, moving to the Richmond area and marking an end to Petersburg's role in an industry that once employed more than two-thirds of the city's workers.
... A more detailed 1917 report issued by the Petersburg Chamber of Commerce listed the city's biggest tobacco producers at the time: British-American Tobacco Co., the owner of Brown and Williamson; the Export Leaf Tobacco Co.; Maclin-Zimmer-McGill Tobacco Co.; and Seidenberg and Co.
In those years, the city was producing an annual average of 2.1 billion cigarettes, as well as 13.2 million cigars, 600,000 pounds of smoking tobacco and 5.5 million pounds of plug and twist (chewing) tobacco. Continued