Westby Tobacco and M. H. Bekkedal

 Written by Garland McGarvey

If you want to know anything about tobacco farming in the Westby area, you probably have to go no further than to a local restaurant or community gathering with someone in attendance greater than 40 years old. There are thousands of stories of the backbreaking work and the manual processes involved with tobacco production. People have even gone as far as to writing poems about the experience. But the story for most people probably ends with “Delivery Day”, receiving that annual check, getting a special meal or treat as the reward for a job well done, and looking forward to the process starting all over again in five or six months. Other people may go a little further and talk about taking the check to the bank and making that payment on the mortgage or paying the property taxes. “Delivery Day” is where this story starts. The stories of the tobacco warehouses and the significance of them in the Westby we know today.

 

We begin on August 13, 1879, when the first Chicago, Milwaukee, Saint Paul and Pacific Railroad cars roll into Westby. The railroad tracks were vital for the transportation of grains to the eastern grain markets. Lumber, along with wheat, oats, corn and barley were the first cash crops of the early Norwegian farmers. But soon, these tracks would become part of a much more important piece of Westby history and the primary cash crop was about to change. In the 1870’s, tobacco was first introduced to the area by Norwegians with ties to tobacco growing in Dane County, Wisconsin. Tobacco was not grown in Norway, so it was a new experience to the hardworking Norwegian families. By the 1890’s, tobacco warehouses had begun appearing along the railroad tracks on the southeast side of town. Early warehouse owners’ names included Golberg, Neprud, Eckert, Hanson, Johnson, Shannon and Bekkedal. In 1900, five tobacco warehouses were present in Westby. By 1904, the number had grown to six. In 1911, while still at six warehouses, the names on four them had one thing in common, M.H. Bekkedal. In the next few years, the Bekkedal name would appear on all six warehouses in Westby and a total of 19 warehouses in southwestern Wisconsin. The tobacco empire of M.H. Bekkedal and Son had begun.

 

While there are a few stories to be shared regarding all the early tobacco warehouse owners, the stories of the Bekkedal warehouses and the impacts to Westby history are many. It is fair to say that the Westby that is here today would be far different if not for Martin H. Bekkedal. Only one of the warehouses still stands today, but the Bekkedal Mansion and the Bekkedal-Unseth Building are also reminders of the Bekkedal legacy. At the height of the Tobacco Industry in Westby, Bekkedal employed nearly 300 people, with a majority being women. He provided a market for many tobacco growers and made it the source of cash to pay for many farms. Today, you will find that many of those farms belong to descendants of the original owners.