San Telmo Cigar Factory No. 2 (Detroit, Michigan)

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The San Telmo Cigar Company was founded by Oscar Rosenberger in 1892. Located at East Forest Avenue and Dequindre, San Telmo became one of Detroit's three leading cigar manufacturers.

Like other cigar makers, San Telmo employed immigrant women recently arrived from Poland. The Polish language became common within the factories, and workers would encourage friends and family members to seek jobs in the cigar industry, establishing a strong association between the tobacco industry and the Polish immigrant community. Although most of these immigrants settled on the city’s east side, a smaller community established itself around Michigan Avenue and Twentieth Street, and spread westward along Michigan Avenue over the following years.

In order to take advantage of this growing pool of labor, many cigar companies moved their operations to the city’s growing Polish neighborhoods. The San Telmo Cigar Company supplemented its existing plant at Forest Avenue and Dequindre, in 1910, with an additional facility, constructed at Michigan Avenue and Thirty-fifth Street.

Rosenberger hired architect, Albert Kahn, to design a new four story, 50,000 sq. ft. building, known as Factory No. 2.

In 1918, Oscar Rosenberger sold his enterprise to Haas Brothers Tobacco Company as the importance of the Detroit industry began to slowly decline.

The San Telmo building was subjected to a variety of uses after the cigar operation finally closed in 1926. According to city directories and building permits, the building was used as a “Boys Club” beginning in 1926, and later as a secondhand store, operated by the League of the Handicapped. It then served as location of a store, Bargain Office Equipment, until the structure was acquired for redevelopment by its current owner, Southwest Housing Solutions, in 2007-2008.