Schiege Cigar Factory
Round Top, Fayette County, Texas
Marker Inscription
By 1859 the U.S. was importing 900 million cigars yearly, mainly from Germany. Tariffs, levied on imported cigars beginning 1862, resulted in a dramatic increase in domestic cigar manufacturing. Tobacco was still an important cash crop when Charles Schiege, Jr., erected a one-room frame cigar factory here in 1882. The factory's roadside facade bore a sign reading "Segars & Tobaccos." Factory workers made the cigars by hand and mainly from U.S. domestic tobaccos. Schiege marketed his cigars under a variety of labels, including "Texas Star," until 1932 when he closed the factory. Sesquicentennial of Texas Statehood 1845-1995
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
When Congress began taxing imported cigars in 1862 to help pay for the Civil War, it accidentally seeded a domestic cigar boom — and in 1882 Charles Schiege Jr. joined it, raising a one-room frame factory here beneath a sign reading "Segars & Tobaccos." His workers rolled cigars by hand from mostly American tobacco, sold under labels like "Texas Star." The little factory kept rolling until Schiege closed it in 1932.
Why it matters
This modest workshop shows how federal tariff policy could reshape everyday American industry, turning a German-inspired luxury import into a homegrown small-town trade.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
In the mid-1800s, cigars were one of America's favorite indulgences, and a great many of them came from overseas. By 1859 the country was importing some 900 million cigars a year, mostly from Germany. Then came the Civil War. Needing revenue, Congress began levying tariffs on imported cigars in 1862. Imported cigars became more expensive, and American makers suddenly had a strong incentive to produce their own.
The result was a boom in domestic cigar making that lasted for decades. Cigar shops sprang up in cities and small towns alike. Many were modest operations where a few skilled workers rolled cigars by hand at wooden benches, and many were run by immigrants who brought the craft with them.
Round Top sits in Fayette County, in a part of Texas settled heavily by German immigrants in the nineteenth century. Tobacco was still an important cash crop in the region in the early 1880s. It was a natural setting for a small cigar business: a community with Old World traditions, local tobacco and a market of neighbors who enjoyed a good smoke.
People & events
In 1882 Charles Schiege, Jr., built a one-room frame cigar factory on this spot. It was a small building with a big ambition. Its roadside front carried a sign reading 'Segars & Tobaccos,' using an older spelling that gives the place a charm all its own.
Inside, the work was done entirely by hand. Workers shaped and rolled the cigars mainly from tobacco grown in the United States, a sign of how far domestic production had come since the days when imports dominated. Hand-rolling took real skill and patience, and a well-made cigar was a point of pride for its maker.
Schiege sold his cigars under several labels, among them 'Texas Star,' a name that surely appealed to local customers. The little factory kept working for half a century. Schiege closed it in 1932, deep in the Great Depression, when hard times were ending small businesses all across the country.
Its place in the American story
This one-room workshop tells a surprisingly large story about how national policy reaches into small places. A tariff passed in wartime Washington helped turn an imported luxury into an American trade. That shift was felt as far away as a crossroads town in the Texas countryside.
The factory also stands for a vanished world of craft manufacturing. Before machines took over cigar making in the twentieth century, countless small shops like this one employed skilled hand workers and supplied their own communities. Most have disappeared without a trace. A surviving example helps us picture how ordinary Americans once made and bought everyday goods.
Finally, it reflects the immigrant roots of so much of American small industry. In Texas's German settlements, familiar trades and tastes were carried across the ocean and rebuilt in new surroundings, becoming part of the state's economy and character.
If you visit
Round Top is a tiny town with an outsized reputation. It is known for its historic buildings, its German heritage and its well-loved antiques fairs, and it is a pleasure to explore at an unhurried pace. Look for the modest frame factory building and imagine the old sign on its roadside front advertising 'Segars & Tobaccos' to passers-by.
The building's small scale is the point. Standing there, you can picture the whole operation: a few workers at their benches, stacks of tobacco leaf, and boxes of finished cigars headed for local shops. It is a rare chance to see the kind of place where American small industry actually happened.
Round Top fits beautifully into a drive through the rolling hills of Fayette County and the surrounding German-settled countryside. Pair it with nearby historic churches, painted halls and small towns for a day on the back roads of Texas history.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · Charles Schiege, Jr.
Themes & tags
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