Collection reflects Davenport’s days as a cigar capital of the Midwest

(qctimes) If you listed your occupation as "stripper" in the early 1900s, it didn't necessarily mean you peeled your clothes off for pay.
In Davenport anyway, it likely meant that you were employed by one of the city's various cigar manufacturers and that your job was to strip out the center stem from the big tobacco leaves and tear the leaf into smaller pieces that would then be used to roll individual cigars.
That's one of the interesting bits of information inveterate collector and Davenport history buff Merle Vastine has learned in gathering memorabilia related to the city's cigar industry and researching its history. Continued

Photo: Black Hawk Cigar Factory, Burlington, IA, circa 1907 (Library of Congress).