Frederick Keil Biography

Born: 1864, Died: 1925
Married: Emma Koehler

Frederick Keil was employed in an industry that today we do not associate with Canada but more with the Southern United States and Cuba. He was a maker of cigars. In the late 1880s, this industry was common in Southern Ontario. Keil's first shop employing 3 hands in 1897 was on King St. just north of the Zimmerman Hotel. Needing more space, a move was made to the second floor above Liphardt's Hardware Store on King St S. It is recorded that he used locally grown tobacco at first, some grown by Amos Weber Sr. on his farm out on Erb St W. But Keil also imported a great deal of tobacco from such sources as New York State, the Carolinas and even from Cuba. It was noted that taxes collected on this imported crop was a significant part of the revenue collected at the local use office. As business grew a third move was made when Mr. Keil purchased the old hotel building at the corner of King St S and William St. Here with his staff numbering over thirty, a million and a half cigars were turned out during a year.

His brands of cigars, including "Jack Canuck", "Conductors Punch" and "Handmade", were in great demand. The cigar factory became known familiarly as the Johnny Canuck building. By 1922 the Canadian cigar making industry was suffering from United States competition and the growing popularity of ready-made cigarettes. The building closed and sold to Harold Dobbin who renovated the place and opened a garage and electrical service.

Sources:
Waterloo Mount Hope Cemetery Records
Waterloo Chronicle, December 25,1902, October 20, 1904, April 19, 1906, October 12, 1922