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Tobacco factory, built 1882–1888

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Tobacco factory, built 1882–1888

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ID:: desky/deska0531
Order print from this photograph
Name:: Tobacco factory, built 1882–1888
Description:: Tábor

Thanks to members of the town council, and above all to municipal councillor JUDr. Karel Hermann, nobleman of Herrnritt, construction of a tobacco factory was also secured in Tábor. The application to establish the factory was submitted on 1 January 1872. After approval, a house formerly used as a spinning mill on the Lužnice River was purchased from František Forster, and after building alterations production began on 10 August 1872. The first cigars, however, had already been made on 25 April 1872 in temporary premises of the old school behind the church by two women workers, Kateřina Kubíčková and Marie Zavadilová. More women workers joined them within several days. Training was provided by workers from the tobacco factory in Hodonín. The first administrator was František Kučera, an official from the factory in Sedlec (Kutná Hora). By the end of the year 405 women and 10 men were working in the adapted building. The chosen premises did not allow further expansion, so the town offered the government an inexpensive and advantageous site by the railway station for construction of a new factory. With the support of Imperial Council deputies Josef Scher for Budějovice and St. Kletečka for Tábor, the necessary funding was secured, and in 1880 construction was definitively confirmed by the signature of His Imperial Majesty.

The foundation stone was laid on 14 August 1881. Memorial documents concerning the building, portraits of His Imperial Majesty, Minister Dunajevský and other dignitaries, and issues of Prager Zeitung, Národní listy, Český jih and Tábor were placed inside it. The first stage of construction was completed in 1884, but already one year after work began, on 31 October–1 November 1882, the original factory was moved into the new production hall. The entire complex was completed in 1888. Total construction costs reached 176,000 guilders.

The first director was Antonín Žižka. The factory employed 1,333 workers: 4 officials, 30 male workers and 1,300 female workers. Employment peaked in 1896 at 1,458 people. After that year, with the introduction of mechanized production and cigarette manufacture in 1888, the workforce declined and stabilized at 900–1,000 people. The factory ended cigar and cigarette production in 1943, when it was renamed “Omnipol” and mica began to be split there for the needs of the Wehrmacht. Some of the women workers were assigned to forced labour elsewhere; others were assigned to forced labour in “Omnipol”.

Production of tobacco goods resumed after the war. From 1950 to 1953 difficult negotiations took place between local and state authorities over closing the factory and transferring the premises to the army. In 1953 the factory was abolished and converted into barracks. The Ministry of Defence transferred the property to the state in 1995.
Automatic description:: The extensive industrial complex consists of several long multi-storey factory buildings arranged around an open area. New roads, planted young trees, and a small service building occupy the foreground.
Year:: 1890
Author:: Šechtl & Voseček archive
(no closer identification)
Keywords:: Tábor, architecture, tobacco factory, industry
Automatic keywords:: průmyslový areál, factory, průmyslová budova, otevřená plocha, way, mladé stromky, provozní stavba
Material:: negative13x18
Categories:: Tobaco factory
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