|
|
Article: American Tobacco Company
- Article from:
- Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
AMERICAN TOBACCO COMPANY
The story of the American Tobacco Company begins with Confederate veteran Washington Duke, a tobacco trader in North Carolina during the post
–
Civil War period. In 1878 Duke and his two sons, James Buchanan Duke (1856
–
1925) and Benjamin N. Duke (1855
–
1929), founded W. Duke, Sons & Co. It was part of a plan that eventually enabled them to have corporate control over almost the entire U.S. tobacco industry. In 1890 the Duke family created a trust, known as the American Tobacco Company, the result of a merger of the five principal cigarette manufacturers of this era: Goodwin & Co., Williams S. Kimball & Co., Kinney Tobacco Co., Allen ...