When the first settlers came to the area in the 1840s, tobacco was brought along for personal use only. Periodically, the farmers would send back east for more seed. However, the first really successful crop was raised in 1854 by the Pomeroy brothers who lived south of Edgerton.

The early crops were sent by horse-drawn wagon to Milwaukee and shipped east for sale. This was usually done via the Great Lakes. When the railroad was built through Edgerton, tobacco was shipped by rail to Milwaukee and Chicago, then east to the large markets.

At the turn of the last century and into the 1930s, Edgerton was known as the "Tobacco Capital of the World" and the nickname Tobacco City has stuck around. During this period, tobacco buyers from throughout the world came to Edgerton and stayed at one of the several hotels located here. Often they would buy the tobacco crop while it was still growing. They could tell by looking and feeling if it were a good crop.

At one time, there were 55 huge tobacco warehouses in the city. These were mostly of frame construction, although many were made of the unique yellow Edgerton brick which was manufactured here. The clay for this brick was harvested from a clay pit once located at the west end of Lawton Street in the downtown area. You may have seen several of these yellow warehouses along the railroad tracks downtown. Some of these are still used for the processing and storage of tobacco, although several are used for other purposes.

Tobacco grown here is known as Northern Type, and was mainly used in cigars and for the "binder leaf" which was wrapped around the cigar tobacco itself. Many people were employed in the cigar factories here. The industry declined when a "homogenized" binder was developed which could utilize the imperfect leaves, which were unsuitable for binders.

These imperfect leaves, were made into tobacco for chewing or for snuff. That is what the tobacco grown today is used for.

Up until the past few years, in spring, tiny seeds were sown in "beds" which had been sanitized by steam, then covered with muslin, ie "canvas" to hold in moisture and keep out unwanted seeds. In recent years, however, most farmers purchase plants grown in a greenhouse setting.

The seedlings, when about 4-6 inches high, are "pulled" from the beds and placed in the wheel of a tobacco "setter". This machine, the only mechanization used in the crop’s production, may be only a one-row setter, or go up to one that can plant four rows at a time. The people ride backwards and, after the wheel places the plant in the ground and gives it a squirt of water, they place another plant in the ever-rotating wheel until the field is completed. This is called "setting".

In July, usually, the plant grows a delicate pink blossom on it’s very top; this must be removed and this procedure is called "topping" and is done to further the fullness and weight of the leaves.

As with most crops, "cultivating" must be done to eliminate weeds. And, again in order to encourage the growth of a strong plant with large leaves, unwanted shoots are also removed. This is called "suckering" Often, another pest, the tobacco worm, must be removed. (Edgerton has a pet worm named Toby who travels from place to place in the city and shows up each year, just before Tobacco Heritage Days.)

Within a few weeks, it’s time to harvest the tobacco plants and they are cut down with a tobacco axe and put in stacks on the ground to wilt. This is called "piling". After they have wilted, the large stems are poked through with a metal tip attached to a thin piece of wood called a "lath" until there are six or eight plants on the lath. The metal tip is then removed and placed on another tobacco lath and the procedure starts all over again. The tip is called a "spud". When "stringing" the tobacco plants, the lath can either be propped upright against the ground, or held on a framework called a "horse".

The strung tobacco plants are then placed on another framework on a large wagon and hauled by tractor into a tobacco shed. The laths full of tobacco plants are hung in rows and tiers all the way to the very tip top of the shed; this phase is "hanging". This building is different from a regular barn because it has vents all over it which can be opened to let the air circulate and help dry the tobacco. The plants turn brown when they’re dry.

In the winter, when the air turns moist (called "case weather"), the dried plants become easy to handle and all the laths are taken down, the plants are removed and the leaves removed from the stalks. This is called "stripping" and is done in a special shed called the "strip house". The farmer’s family and lots of friends help strip tobacco in this warm, moist building. The leaves are then placed in a bale box" or tobacco "press" which is lined with paper. A piece of wood comes down inside the box and gently pressed the leaves into a more compact form called a "bale", and hauled by truck to a warehouse where it’s stored until it’s sold.

(The tobacco grown in this area is used mostly for chewing or snuff, although at one time, Edgerton was known for its fine cigar tobacco and cigar binder-tobacco.)