Résumé : In many old photographs of downtown Tampa a very close scrutiny will uncover signs hanging from the buildings over the sidewalks with just three letters "ELI". Eli Witt distributed all of the leading brands of cigars manufactured in Tampa as well as brands manufactured in other cities and was very successful in developing sales of these brands. One very serious problem arose out of this success. It seemed that as soon as he had worked a brand of cigars up to where it was in demand, the manufacturer began selling direct to the retailers or to other wholesale firms in the area. This is when Mr. Eli realized that he needed a cigar brand of his own that he could control. He reached this goal in 1918 when he arranged to purchase the Havatampa Cigar Company along with financial help of two of his associates, W. L. Van Dyke who was employed by him in 1907, and D. H. Woodbery whom he had employed in 1910, along with some relatives of these two.
(Funding) Funded in part by the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS), Ephemeral Cities Project.
Tampa |z 1271000 |2 ceeus
Hillsborough County |z 12057 |2 ceeus
United States of America -- Florida -- Hillsborough County -- Tampa

Droits : All rights reserved. 2005.
C24-00153