The chronicle of Eger Tobacco Factory

The factory-under construction

The Product warehouse, a two- storey building with internal iron reinforcement, a wood cement ceiling structure, elevators and hot-air heating was tailor-made for storing cigars. It was heated by an iron stove from a heating chamber on the ground floor. The Outbuilding was a long, single-storey building with the possibility of upward extension. It housed a guard room, the factory physician’s surgery, a spacious kitchen, two large canteens, a large store-room and a carpenter’s workshop. Built on a stone foundation, the iron fencing was also erected.

Why choose Eger, a city of wines, to introduce a new industry? The vineyards in the vicinity of the town were devastated by philoxeria in 1890. When the Mayor Sándor Grónay handed over his petition about the tobacco factory to Finance Minister Sándor Wekerle, he said: “Our city has been devastated to the extent that most of our residents are forced to move away for the lack of jobs.