JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — For 100 years, Swisher – best known for its Swisher Sweets Cigars – has called Jacksonville home.
On June 20, the company marked the milestone at its headquarters at 459 E. 16th St. in Springfield.
Founded in Ohio in 1861 by David Swisher, the company moved to Jacksonville in 1924 to take advantage of the city’s climate, shipping facilities and proximity to raw materials and markets, according to a history of Swisher on the brand’s website.
With the move to Jacksonville, Swisher introduced rolling machines on June 20, 1924, allowing the company to mass-produce its cigars, totaling 100 million a year by the end of the decade.
Its signature King Edward Cigar became the top-selling cigar in the world by the early 1940s, and its factory in Jacksonville became the largest operating under one roof in the world, according to Swisher’s website. By 2004, the company was making 9 million cigar products a day in Jacksonville, including its King Edward and Swisher Sweets brands, the latter introduced in 1958, the Times-Union reported.