For the Record

In Union Township tobacco was once a crop as important as corn, soybeans and wheat. Now there are only the strip sheds where it was hung for curing.

A hundred years ago it was a cottage industry in town with girls taking it home and rolling it into cigars. Kay Wertz and his wife Faye grew tobacco at one time. He said some local tobacco was soaked in cherry juice and shipped south to make Swisher's Sweets, a favorite among youths and women.

Information from the Lions' Club book, "West Milton, Ohio 1807-1907."