Our History

Interview with Henry William Finck

Interview by Mary Locke Croft, January 30, 1991, in San Antonio, Texas

Bill Finck Sr.'s great-grandfather Reinhold Finck came to San Antonio in 1852 from Württemberg, Germany, via New Orleans. In 1861 he began publishing the San Antonio News in both English and German. Mr. Finck’s grandfather Henry began the Finck Cigar factory in the 1880s. Bill Finck explains the history of the cigar factory and the process of making cigars, from purchasing the tobacco in Connecticut, Cuba, and South America, to the making of hand-rolled cigars by Rafaela Sanchez, an eighty-year-old woman employed by the company for over seventy years. Mr. Finck also tells of his days in the state legislature and the burning of his $2,700 state paycheck, which made headline news.

- Bill Finck Sr. at the Texas Legislature in 1973

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Letter from Henry William Finck II

Two letters written for our print catalogs in 2000.

Bill Finck Jr. sheds his insight into the value of good employees and writes a tribute to Emilio Romero.

- Bill Finck Jr. and vintage Travis Club delivery van

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