Kelly Cigar Co & The Read House
We’ve talked about Kelly Cigar Company before, but we found something new …er …old that we just had to share. First - a little history about Kelly Cigar Company.
J.W. Kelly bought the lease on the bar & billiards inside the Read House in 1890. He also owned the lease to the cigar and tobacco shop in the hotel. By about 1902, all of Kelly’s leases expired and ownership reverted to The Read House to run the bar, billiards, and cigar shop. That wasn’t the end of their relationship.
When Prohibition ceased the legal manufacture and sale of alcohol in the USA, J.W. Kelly & Co. closed up shop. However, there was one branch of the J.W. Kelly umbrella that remained open: Kelly Cigar Co.
Kelly started off his business in Chattanooga with whiskey and tobacco. In 1877, Kelly & (then partner) Davenport tobacco advertisements begin. The original storefront for the cigar shop was located in 833 Market Street from 1909-1914. This was the location of Kelly’s original store that moved from next door to the Read House after 1869. Kelly Cigar Co changed owners and names from 1914-1915, but then when it was purchased in September 1916, the new owners changed the name and the location of the shop. It became Kelly Cigar & Tobacco Co. and moved to 719 Cherry Street.
In July 1919, the company was again sold to the Couch Brothers and Webb who changed the name to “The Couch Brothers & Webb Tobacco Company.” Declining sales forced them to change the name back to Kelly Cigar Company by 1921, and back to Kelly Cigar & Tobacco Co by 1925.
They would also change locations at least three times before 1963. In the early 1940’s, though, the company was located at 1433 Market Street.
Last week, our JWK historian was down at The Read House helping out with digitizing their archives for the time capsule. (Hey, BTW - you should check out the next event! Keep an eye on their social media for more info. ) And she found something pretty awesome. In the early 1940s, The Read House included a menu of all of the services found in the hotel. The Read House Historian found one of these from about 1941/1942. It still has S.R. Read’s personal crest on the cover.
Courtesy of The Read House.
A couple of pages in, our Kelly historian discovered this . . .
So, the relationship between Kelly and The Read House extended beyond what we’d previously known. In 1941/1942, all of the tobacco at the newsstand was furnished by none other than Kelly Cigar & Tobacco Co.
We love being able to put all of these pieces of JWK history together! Do you have any Kelly history? Please share! Click the button below to contact our Historian directly.