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Schimmel Cigar Store

 

William Schimmel

1858 - 1941

 

04 06 1937

Article includes pic

 

One of Watertown's last veteran active cigarmakers, a man whole spent 64 years in the game, has retired.  He stepped out yesterday from active business and has closed his West Main Street business place.

 

The man is William Schimmel, head of the William Schimmel and Son cigar store, located at Main and North Water streets.  He went to work for Wiggenhorn brothers when he was but 15 years of age.  It was considered the thing to do those days, to start work at an early age and learn a trade. Mr. Schimmel learned the business from the ground up and became an expert cigarmaker and later went into business for himself.  He started as a tobacco stripper and gradually got a place "on the bench" and daily made his share of cigars, back in the days when the cigar business in Watertown was booming.  In 1908 he went into business for himself, first opening a place in West Main Street, where he remained for eight years, before opening the store which until yesterday housed his business.

 

With Mr. Schimmel's retirement passes another link in Watertown's once famous cigar industry, when it had many local factories, employing several hundred cigarmakers.  

 

Among the cigars which bore the Schimmel mark were such favorites as the S and S, Havana Special, Juanita, and the noted 182.  The concern also made cigars for special trade and concerns and at one time employed from 16 to 18 men in its shop.

 

The formula for the Schimmel cigars never varied.  He always insisted on the best and saw to it that his trade got it.  The cigars turned out at his factory enjoyed not only a wide local sale, but popularity in a wide area and in many distant places.

 

"Things have certainly changed a lot, especially in the retail line," Mr. Schimmel said today in announcing his retirement.  "Why when I started in the business Watertown was known far and wide as a famous cigar city, and any young man who took up the business got into a fine field and learned a good trade.  But things are different now.  There is hardly any young man going into the game these days.  Machine made cigars and the immense national sales campaigns by nationally circulated cigars have made a thing of the past for the smaller factories.  Some day these may come back, but I doubt it.  But it was a great business while it lasted.  I am glad to have had a part in it in Watertown.  We made many fine business contacts and I appreciate the years of support which our trade gave us.  Now, I am ready to take it easy and loaf and enjoy a rest."

 

Son Takes New Job

 

Walter A. Schimmel, who has been associated in the business, will become associated with the Tri-County Tobacco Co., formerly the Miller Cigar company, in North Fourth Street.  He will be the exclusive cigar salesman for the concern and will begin work in about two weeks.  He plans to take a brief vacation.  Among the cigars he will handle are La Fendrich, Mi Lola, Cremo, Greystone, Van Bibber, Seiderberg, Blue Spot, Blue Seals, Schimmel's 182 and Beachnut.

 

The store building which Schimmels are vacating will probably be occupied soon by another concern.  Several interests are negotiating for the place but no deal has been closed thus far, it was said.  

 

Mr. Schimmel recalled that Charles A. Kading, former congressman, bought the first box of cigars from him when he opened the business and he was also the last man to buy a box when Mr. Schimmel closed out his stock.

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10 31 1941

M. Schimmel Is Dead at 83

Former Manufacturer of Cigars Here Will Be Buried Monday

 

William Schimmel, 83, former cigarmaker and cigar manufacturer, died here today at the home of his son, Clarence Schimmel, 119 North Washington Street.  His death followed an illness to which the infirmities of age contributed.

 

Mr. Schimmel retired from the cigars business in 1937.  He was a native of Germany and was born July 24, 1858, a son of Mr. and Mrs. Christ Schimmel.  They came to the United States when he was a boy of 12 and soon after settled in Watertown.  This had been his home ever since.

 

He married Miss Emma Speer on December 26, 1880. She died on September 10, 1938. Surviving are three sons, Walter and Clarence, this city, and Hilmer, Waukegan, IL.  Another son, William, died in 1925.  Two sisters also survive, Mrs. Minnie Fischer, Boston, Mass., and Mrs. Dora Everson, Chicago.  Two other sisters and one brother preceded him in death.

 

Mr. Schimmel was a member of the Plattdeutscher Verein.  He served several terms as alderman from the old Fifth ward and was a charter member of the Cigarmakers union here and served as its president.

 

The funeral held from the Hafemeister funeral home. The Rev. C. W. Pinkney of the First Congregational church will officiate.  Burial will be in Oak Hill cemetery.