Johnathon Jaeger
Catalog Number: 2016.fic.008
This is a wooden cigar box from the Pamperin and Wiggenhorn Cigar Co.
Cigar boxes were required by law in the Internal Revenue Act of 1864, which stated “all cigars manufactured … shall be packed in bundles, boxes or packages …” Cigar companies used this requirement to create attractive boxes that advertise their products.
This box was made between 1898 and 1907 by Tisch Brothers on behalf of the Pamperin and Wiggenhorn Cigar Co.
Established in 1898, the Tisch Bros. Co. manufactured cigar boxes and labels and employed about 30 people in the 1910s at its 221-223 Main St. location.
The Pamperin and Wiggenhorn Cigar Co. was established in the late-1800s by Percy C. Wiggenhorn and John Pamperin, a major manufacturer of cigars in La Crosse.
In the 1880s, they employed 50 cigar makers, 20 tobacco strippers and three packers. They made about 12,000 cigars a day. In 1903, John Pamperin sold his shares of the company and opened the Pamperin Cigar Co. The Wiggenhorns retained the old company with the original name. The Pamperin and Wiggenhorn Cigar Co. closed about 1911.
This cigar box was part of the Pride of La Crosse line of cigars from Pamperin and Wiggenhorn.
On the inside of the box is a print of the Old Post Office, officially known as La Crosse’s U.S. Customs House, Post Office and Federal Circuit Court Building.
This building’s construction marked the full appearance of the federal government in the La Crosse area. In 1885, federal officials appropriated $100,000 for the construction of the building.
It included architectural features from the Romanesque Revival and the French Renaissance styles. The building was enlarged in 1910 and again in 1931 to accommodate the increasing number of federal offices and the desire for more space by the courts.
The print shows the building in its original form.
By the mid-1900s, the building was in disrepair, and many people working in the Old Post Office found it dysfunctional for their purposes.
Due to unemployment at the time, many local community members supported the destruction of the building to start a major construction project that would create jobs.
There was also a national urban renewal movement at the time, when federal money was made available to local communities to replace old and historic structures. The Old Post Office was razed in 1977.
This article was originally published in the La Crosse Tribune on May 2, 2020.
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