Title: Imperial Tobacco Processing Plant

Identifier: 0605-b1-fa   (https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/4177)

Description: The Imperial Tobacco Processing Plant, Greenville, N.C., was once part of the Imperial Tobacco Company. Originally founded in the United Kingdom in 1901, the Imperial Tobacco Company also had branches in the North Carolina towns of Durham, Oxford, Greenville, and Wilson. Located in "Tobacco Town" off Dickinson Avenue, the Greenville plant was once the largest buyer of tobacco on the Greenville market for the export trade, according to research by local historian Roger Kammerer. Most of the structure was built in the early 1900s. The company left Greenville in 1978, leaving behind the building covering two city blocks. There were plans of restoring the structure, but on April 17, 2008, the plant was gutted by fire. Image original from North Carolina State Archives. Date approximated.