Tobacco was grown here since the 1820's, and Wentzville's seven big factories were producing and selling tobacco products before the Civil War. The largest of them, Dula & Carr, sold their factory in 1884-1885. Local farmers continued growing tobacco into the 1930s and 40s, and some still grow it today for personal use. Nearly every county in the state produced some leaf, while certain counties became major growers. A strip of land on the western side of St. Charles County, stretching from the Missouri River on the south to Eagle Creek, now Big Creek, a branch of the Cuivre River, on the north, was one of Missouri's banner growing regions.