Waitt & Bond
| Industry | Tobacco |
|---|---|
| Fate | Closed |
| Founded | 1870 |
| Defunct | 1969 |
| Headquarters |
Saugus, Massachusetts (1870–?) Boston, Massachusetts (?–1919) Newark, New Jersey (1919–1963) Scranton, Pennsylvania (1963–1969) |
|
Key people
|
Charles Henry Bond Henry Waitt |
| Products | Cigars |
Waitt & Bond, Inc. was an American cigar manufacturer that was in operation from 1870 to 1969. During the early 20th century it was the largest cigar manufacturer in New England and one of the largest in the United States.
Waitt & Bond was established in 1870 by Charles Henry Bond and Henry Waitt. They began manufacturing cigars in a small shop in the Cliftondale neighborhood of Saugus, Massachusetts. In 1902 the business was incorporated in Maine. In October 1917 it was incorporated under the laws of Massachusetts.
In 1885, Waitt & Bond, which was then doing business on Blackstone Street in Boston, launched what would become its most famous brand - "Blackstone".
Waitt & Bond later moved to a large factory on Endicott Street in Boston. Bond remained Waitt & Bond's president and general manager until his death in 1908. After Bond's death, the company was run by William E. Waterman. In 1913 Waitt & Bond moved into its newly built factory, which was the largest cigar factory in the world under one roof. Located at 716 Columbus Avenue, it contained automated machinery for handling tobacco as well as facilities for humidifying, storing, and routing the product.
During the early years of World War I, Waitt & Bond hired many refugees from Belgium. In addition to being expert cigar makers, many of them were socialists. After this, Waitt & Bond clashed with the local unions, who threatened to strike if the company hired more employees, implemented the use of machinery, weighed tobacco, ended the practice of cigar makers using their mouths to shape cigars, or dismissed an employee without the consent of a union committee.
On July 7, 1919, workers in all of Boston's cigar factories walked off the job in defiance of the Cigar Makers' International Union. They proposed to open their own cigar factory on a cooperative basis. On August 13, Waitt & Bond announced that it was leaving Boston and relocating to Newark, New Jersey. Once in Newark, the company switched from manufacturing by hand to manufacturing by machine. They were able to resume production six months after the strike was called. After Waitt & Bond adopted the use of machinery, other cigar manufacturers began to follow suit and by 1924 almost every other large cigar manufacturer was either using it or experimenting with it. The switch to machine manufacturing allowed Waitt & Bond to substantially increase its production. This, along with the move to a more central location for distribution, gave the company the ability to go after the national market.
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