THE VENABLE TOBACCO COMPANY

Source from:  endangereddurham.blogspot.com Tuesday, August 26, 2008 08/28/2008

Much of the historical information in this post derives from the National Register nominations for the Venable buildings The area immediately south of East Pettigrew St. and East of Pine St. contained a variety of buildings during the last quarter of the nineteenth century, including three prize houses that may have served adjacent tobacco factories. In 1905, the Durham Tobacco and Inspection Company (DTS&I), newly incorporated by the Dibrell Brothers of Virgina and a Winston-Salem based partner, Sterling Smith, built the the northern two bays of Venable Tobacco Company Warehouse on the site. According to the Sanborn map of 1907, DTS&I leased this warehouse to its associate firm, Venable Tobacco of Virginia. An L-shape, masonry and ironclad "Dry House" were added next to the older prize house, on the site of the existing Prizery; these were also leased to Venable Tobacco. In July 1908 the Dibrell Brothers purchased a one third interest in this building from A. C. Acree. The deed transfer describes the building as a one-story brick and metal-clad "prizery" at the rear of the site belonging to DTS&I. It contained an engine and boiler drying apparatus, power screw, shafting and belting, and other equipment. It is apparently this same building that was jointly sold three months later by Dibrell Brothers and J. E. and Lizzie Perkinson to DTS&I. On the 1913 Sanborn map - the same map that shows the construction of the third, southern bay of the Venable warehouse - the "Dry House" has been expanded with additional iron- clad construction to form "Prizery no. 1." The old prize house had either been incorporated into the expanded building or had been destroyed. The apparent present 'curve' of the warehouse, away from Pine Street/South Roxboro at the northern end, results from the fact that the warehouses originally followed the curve of Pine Street, which curved east to meet the railroad/Pettigrew St. at a 90 degree angle. The street was moved to the west to align with Roxboro St. when the railroad crossing was created. In July 1922 a new Venable Tobacco Company was incorporated under the laws of North Carolina. The firm was directed and owned by individuals from families prominent in the Durham tobacco industry: Clinton W. Toms, Jr., James S. Cobb, and his son J. O. Cobb. The Dibrell Brothers, however, retained a major interest in the firm. The same month the property of Venable Tobacco Company was surveyed and filed with the Register of Deeds. One month later the North Carolina company purchased the prizery and redrying plant from the Virginia- based Venable Tobacco Co., as described in a deed transfer dated August 22, 1922. Two years later it purchased the warehouse from Durham Tobacco Storage and Inspection Company. The transfer of the prizery and redrying buildings to Venable Tobacco-NC suggests the company's intention to expand these facilities. Redrying machinery - notably the Mayo dryer - came into use in the first decade of the century; between the boom years of 1916 and 1929, many companies enlarged their redrying and storage facilities. Redrying plants required expensive equipment, including engines, boilers, and prizing apparatus, as well as specialized and unskilled labor. The high initial investment and fixed costs of these operations meant that only larger firms could afford them. This resulted in the consolidation of brokerage firms - which may explain the reorganization of Dibrell Brothers' North Carolina interests and the Venable Company around this date. The prizery was rebuilt as a three-story structure of slow burn construction - the building that exists today. The Sanborn maps indicate that this occurred between 1922 and 1937; the architecture of the building suggests a construction date circa 1930. A large, two-story metal-clad redrying plant and a building for stemming and hanging appear to have been built at the same time as the new prizery. The enlarged complex indicates a dramatically expanded capacity for the company. The still-extant prizery is one surviving example in Durham of a building type that was essential in the commerce of bright leaf tobacco. Prizeries or "prize houses" began to proliferate after the Civil War, as bright leaf tobacco replaced the older dark leaf variety. Because there were few local markets in North Carolina, dark leaf tobacco had to be transported over long distances to Virginia markets. Growers sorted their leaves simply, according to size, and pressed or "prized" them in part to make transportation more manageable. With the introduction of bright leaf tobacco grading became more complicated, and growers were encouraged to bring their tobacco "loose" - unsorted and ungraded - to local auctions. Tobacco brokers bought green, bright leaf tobacco at the famous "loose leaf auctions", held at local sales warehouses. They transferred their purchases to prize houses, which they often owned and which often had attached redrying facilities. Here the tobacco was sorted and redried in redrying machines, taken off the sticks, and "prized" or pressed into hogsheads. It was then transferred to a warehouse where it would be aged until ready for shipment to manufacturers. Enditem