About The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950
Edgerton, Wis. (1877-1950)

Wisconsin Tobacco Reporter

The Wisconsin Tobacco Reporter was published in Edgerton between 1877 and 1950. It was preceded by the Edgerton Independent, merged with the Edgerton Eagle in 1925, and later continued as Edgerton Reporter. As its title suggests, the Wisconsin Tobacco Reporter was a weekly newspaper devoted to the interests of the state's tobacco industry.

Edgerton, located in Rock and Dane County, is locally known as "Tobacco City" because of the central role it played in the tobacco industry in southern Wisconsin. In the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, it was home to dozens of tobacco warehouses. Tobacco was one of the earliest and most enduring of Wisconsin's specialty crops, first sold commercially in the 1850s. Tobacco boomed during the Civil War when the secession of southern states created a strong market for the crop. By the 1880s, tobacco was grown across southern Dane county and in Rock and Jefferson counties. In the 1900s, a second area of production developed in Vernon and Crawford counties. Tobacco prices fell during the Great Depression but the Agricultural Adjustment Act helped to solidify the market by restricting the number of acres in production.

Although tobacco cultivation was not native to Norwegians, they soon became strongly associated with it due to the large number of immigrants who worked on tobacco farms. Two editors of the Tobacco Reporter reflected this Norwegian heritage. Dilly Ristad, editor from 1919 to 1931, and Christian Hoen, editor from 1931 to 1949, were born in Norway and arrived in the United States in the 1880s. Other editors included William Tousley, 1877-1882, Frederic Coon, 1882-1919, and George Bozich, 1949-1951. The first page of the Tobacco Reporter was dedicated to the tobacco industry and market, and the remaining pages discussed the usual array of local, national, and some international news.

Provided by: Wisconsin Historical Society