Henry Tibbe Corncob Pipe Factory

Located at the Southwest corner of Front and Ceder streets. Tibbe, a Hollander, produced the first lathe-turned corncob pipe in 1872 in a shop (no longer standing) at 209 West Second Street in which he made spinning wheels. Tibbe added plaster of Paris to make the pipe bowls smoother and more durable and patented the process in 1878, the same year he moved into a building (no longer standing) at Front and Jefferson streets. In 1883 he moved to the Front and Cedar street building. His son, Anton A. Tibbe, continued the business after his father’s death in 1896.  In 1907 it became the Missouri Meershaum Company.

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