February 25, 2013

Manufacturers of Old Lake View

Once Located in the Township/City/District of Old Lake View
The Subposts Topics within this Post:
1) Manufacturers along the River
2) Manufacturers along the Tracks
3) The Land Scars of the Manufacturers
that includes
Clay Pits & Ice Ponds
This post is about the manufacturing companies that once blanketed the Township/City, District of and finally Community of Lake View. Most manufacturers from the 19th and early 20th century were once located near rivers & railroads for easy and efficient access to their marketable areas. 
The Chicago area had abundant of both. I will highlight the most notable manufacturers while addressing the fact that Lake View was a blue-collar area much like the rest of Chicago at the turn of the 20th century. Manufacturing was the 'bread & butter' for labor and prosperity in old Lake View as well as the Chicgo and the nation. 
In my opinion the decline of manufacturing in Old Lake View began during the Great Depression of 1929. Thousand of jobs were lost many never to returned to thier formal status.
The Vintage Manufacturers
of Old Lake View:
1894 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map along the river
once part of the Township/City of Lake View
and finally the District of Lake View
The history/list I provide in this section of the post includes manufacturers that were hub and attached to popular forms of transportation in the mid-19th century - rivers and railroads. The north branch of the Chicago River between Fullerton Avenue and Diversey Parkway had a hub of companies that drew thousands of employees to the Township/City of Lake View and then after the annexation of 1889 the then newly formed District of Lake View. The other means of transportation that drew thousands of workers to Lake View was the Chicago & Lake Superior railway and the Chicago & North Western Railroad that shipped product north and south of old Lake View. These railroads would have several names during their own history's. The most prominent and first railway to geographical cut through old Lake View was the 
that no longer exists but is remember of the elders of old Lake View most noblely due railways proximity to Wrigley Field.
photo - Industrial History:C&E Milwaukee

The Vintage Manufacturing Companies 
along the Tracks
The railroads through Lake View in 1904 in blue lines
with the red shapes that indicates manufacturers/plants
with a list onf manufacturers along its route
The schedules
of the Chicago & Evanston Division
zoomed view below
List of Companies
from School Street to Addison
photo - Forgotten Railways of Chicago
Within the red box is the most visible 'right of way' of the former Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul RR - Evanston branch that sliced through Lake View using Google Earth. Some residencal development was contructed in alignment with the 'red rectangle' using Google Earth. The most southern end of this line linked up with the Kingsbury Street line, once part of Chicago Terminal. Countless of local manufacturers built their factories along this RR are now replaced by houses, apartments, condos. This branch of the railroad was meant only for freight for such companies as Reed Candies and Best Buy Brewing and  among others I will mention in this post.
a 1880's bill of sale for a candy shipment
from the 
Chicago Milwaukee & St. Paul  Railway Company
part of my collection
The Vintage Manufacturing Companies 
along the Chicago River
A Brief:
in what we would call today as an industrial park;
Fullerton to Diversey, the river to Ashland
1887 Rascher's Atlas
a zoomed view below
Malleable Iron Works
this company had three plants, all near-by
William Deering & Company's Agricultural Works
M. Lassig Bridge Works
North Western Terra Cotta Company/
True Hottinger & Company
An Unnamed Brick Yard 
Lake View School #3
and to known later as 
Prescott Elementary
The List 
of Manufacturers 
by Name:
Illinois Malleable Irons Works
An Iron Casting Company
Established in 1880
Township of Lake View
The General Office was located at 
1801 W Diversey Parkway
1891 invoice - part of my collection
images from Internet Archive
plant #1
1923 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map
plant #2
1923 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map
plant #3
1923 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map
A Current Area View
Google Map Perspectives 2018

an aerial view below of the area - 2018 Google Earth

Some of their products

 on sale by Ebay for $2,500 in 2019
A Company of Style 
and Grace
2525 N Clybourn Avenue
Urban Remains item for sale
According to a company called Urban Remains the original named company was 'True, Brunkhorst & Co.' organized in 1877. The five founding members were John Brunkhorst, Gustav Hottinger, Henry Rohkam, John Tank and John R. True. The True, Brunkhorst & Company continued to do business as the North-Western Terra-Cotta Works until 1887, when it was officially incorporated as the Northwestern Terra Cotta Company.

image - Columbia Digital Library
and postcard - Urban Remains
A Narrative 
from their 1926 catalog
image via Ebay 
A Billing Receipts 
from Urban Remains
zoomed from above
Northwestern Terra Cotta Company was Chicago's largest manufacturer of architectural terra cotta. With headquarters at 1750 Wrightwood Avenue in Chicago, NWTC operated from ca. 1877 until its last factory, located in Denver, closed its doors in 1965. The firm was a leader in development of the architectural terra cotta industry and provided building elements for numerous Chicago buildings, including the Wrigley Building, Chicago Theatre, and Civic Opera House according to https://snaccooperative.org

1892 advertisement 
 Art Institute of Chicago via Explore Chicago
1887 Rascher's Atlas
1891 Rascher's Atlas
a 1894 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map view 
The company once 
had three locations by the 1930's
Chicago /Denver/St. Louis


The Fire of 1911
In 1911 the original building was destroyed by fire but by the next year a new building took its place in the same spot that depicted the popularity and financial strength of the company
 page 2
From the Ashes
the new building 
1911 Chicago Daily News advertisement
Terra Cotta's Use and Populaity
by 1912
Their Workers 
at Work
 Workers feeding the kiln

mixing area
men with chisels
 men working with molds
polychrome (painting or decorate) room
 Sculptors working on architectural molds models
and
the drafting room
'By 1920 the firm's Clybourn Avenue plant covered 24 acres and was the largest in the world. In addition to operating a second facility in Chicago Heights, the company subsequently acquired plants in St. Louis and Denver.
Northwestern Terra Cotta targeted its client base by advertising in trade journals such as American Architect. The company wasted no time promoting its involvement in the construction of the distinctive Wrigley Building—the first skyscraper completely clad "from sidewalk to searchlight" in terra cotta. Not only was the gleaming white-enamel office tower Chicago's tallest structure at that time, it was the first of a series that inaugurated new development north of the Chicago River.' - National Building Museum
Advertisement for Northwestern Terra Cotta Company featuring Windermere Hotel, Chicago, C. W. & Geo L. Rapp, Architects

Chicago Daily News Advertisements
1909
1911
1913
1914
Some Designs
from Urban Remains
for the  Carson Pirie Scott & Company 1899
Art Institute of Chicago via Explore Chicago Collection
1925 photo below - Chicago History Museum
The Company's President 
image (unknown date) - Amazon
The president lived  on what is regarded today 
as Terra Cotta Row in Lake View
... his death in 1929
The Presidents' Home
1054 W Oakdale Avenue
built in 1886 when Lake View was a township
Adolph's Home
and built in 1901
when Lake View was referred to as a District in Chicago
after the annexation of 1889

text - Hidden History of Ravenswood and Lake View by Pat Butler


The Rokham House is dubbed the Queen of the Row
Theodore Karls was the architect built in 1887 when the status of Lake View changed from township form of government to a city with the same territory. The residence is part of an area known as Terra-Cotta Row that is made of four houses on the same block.
on Oakdale Avenue
photos - Altas Obscura
The Company's Salesman 
Samples
photos from Ebay and now part my collection
a meant to be a salesman sample for potential client 
This is a 6" wide and 4 1/4" tall
Another Salesman's Sample
photos - Garry Albrecht
10 inches tall and 2lbs
part of my Lake View collection
another keepsake
of mine
church to the left & school to the right
photos via Urban Remains
the school closed in 1983 & demo'ed in 2003
My piece 
of the school
the terra cotta face
12 x 6 in size
top and side views
Other Samples 
of their Works of Art
(not part of my collection)
a tile
selling at Ebay for $675 as of 2017
It measures 15.75" x 12" x 1"
another salesman's calling card - Ebay
images - Ebay 
apparently before casting of the terra cotta
photos - Ebay
indicating the original name of the company
This Christmas tree stand 
was given to customers of the company for free


The Union Stock Yard
"This terra-cotta arch from the Union Stock Yard, 1888, Chicago, designed for the office of Burnham & Root that was manufactured by Northwestern Terra Cotta Company, Chicago. Originally this arch stood in the Union Stock Yard at the National Live Stock Bank of Exchange Avenue and remained there until the stockyard fire of 1934. Flanking the doorways are figures of a southwest cattle rancher (left) and John D. Gillett (right), a prominent Illinois cattle rancher. In 1984 it was donated to the Chicago History Museum." 
- testimony from Rolf Achilles 


Another Project was
Union Station
The Company's 
other Advertisements
both sheets are part of my collection
images - Ebay
ad - Ebay
zoomed below
The Northside HQ 
still remains on a street called Terra Cotta Place
photo - Andrew Jameson via Wikimedia Commons
with a Google Map view

Their Downtown Office Lobby 

Remaining Artifacts 
by Urban Remains 
as of 2018
pieces from St. Boniface School building 
that was part of a salvage operation in the 1990's



Wrigley Chewing Factory office building

The Terra Cotta House on 
Wellington Avenue
503 Wellington
photo - Chicago History Museuum 
via Explore Chicago Collection
The entire exterior of this house that was once located
531 W Wellington was embedded with terra cotta. According to Windy City Historians-Facebook by a contributor named Greg Brewer, "The house was built in 1900 for Mrs. Margarette True, prior to her marriage to Horace Brand in 1910. The architects were Huehl and Schmid. The garage was built in 1910; the architects were Tallmadge and Watson. The property was apparently sold following Mrs. Brand's death in 1919. The house was demolished and replaced by an apartment building."
below photo - Chicago History Museum 
via Explore Chicago Collection of the backyard
NEXT UP ...
William Deering 
& Company
A Farm Equipment Company
1880 - 1902
to later merge with
International Harvester
est. 1847 
merged 1902 - closed location 1930
the property view - Ebay
1894 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of the location
with a 1923 map view below


photos - Chicagology 
built in 1880
Artist Bror Julius Olsson Nordfeldt's depiction
illustration - Art Institute of Chicago unknown date
Receipt dated 1888 
when Lake View was a city in Illinois - Ebay
Trade Cards
Trade Cards "functioned as advertising and also as maps, directing the public to the merchants' stores (no formal street address numbering system existed at the time). The trade card is an early example of the modern business card. The use of trade cards in America became widespread from the mid-19th-century in the period following the Civil War" according to Wikipedia

and the reverse side
from my personal collection
trade cards from Ebay
with the reverse side

with the  reverse side

the reverse side 

 

photos - Ebay
1891 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map
in detail 
1894 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map below
The Area by 1923
indicating Deering Works as a divsion of
The Area by 1950
as a public housing location
More
 Advertisements & Pamphlets: 
William Deering & Company advertisement pages
image above - Ebay
image below - Amazon
 
 images - Ebay

Their Catalog 
6 photos - Ebay
A Storybook for the 
Chicago Columbia Exhibition
photos - Ebay

booklet pages - Ebay











postcard - Ebay 
McCormick Deering Chicago Cast 
Iron Sickle Grinder
photo - Ebay

Photos of the
 Deering Plant 
Completely Merged in 1899
New Letter-Head
 with the backside of it has a meshed photo of the property
images - Ebay
1922 advertisement - Throwing Wrenches
'By 1910, when International Harvestor -IH grossed about $100 million in annual sales, it had over 17,000 workers in the Chicago area, making it the leading employer in the region. By that time, IH had established its own steel mill on the city's far South Side, which it named Wisconsin Steel, as well as manufacturing plants in Sweden, [post czarist] Russia, and Germany. A manufacturer of trucks as well as tractors, during the first years of the twentieth century the company moved away from animal-powered equipment and toward motorized vehicles. By the 1930's, as the nation's leading manufacturer of trucks.' – Encyclopedia of Chicago
image - Ebay
An International Harvester 
of America advertisement
In the first quarter of the 20th century International Harvester had a  particularly in Imperial Russia & the Soviet Union during the early
part of the 20th century.
The Owner
Sausage Works
established in the 
District of Lake View
Albert, the Saugage King
The company's location in 1894
As your recall Fullerton Avenue was the southern border to the township/city, District of Lake View 
zoomed below
North of International Harvester facilities within the manufacturing area or industrial park was Adolph Luetgert's Sausage Works once located on Diversey Parkway near the north branch of the Chicago River also near Northwestern Terra Cotta Company and the Deering Works.
'Albert Luetgert had established a packing house and stockyard on the city’s north-side, at the 1700 block of West Diversey Avenue, in 1879 when Lake View was a township. It had become very successful over the years, from an initial investment of four thousand dollars to a point where the A.L. Luetgert Sausage & Packing Co. was considered the ‘sausage king’ by 1890’s' according to the Ravenswood-Lake View Historical Association website.
Albert Luetgert
photos - Ebay
illustration - Alchemy of Bones
The Daniel Boone 
Woolen Mills Inc.
1700 block of Diversey Parkway
A steel company
1882-1900
established when Lake View was a township
image - Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway
a 1894 Sanborn Fire Map that highlights the location 
south of Diversey & Lakewood (Henderson)
2019 Google Earth view
the tracks was routed on Lakewood Avenue - right of the photo 
The company manufactured steel for the
Diversey Avenue Bridge - Chicago River

photo via Patrick McBriarity, Bridge Hunter.com 
image of map - Ebay
The first bridge opened September 11, 1896 [when Lake View was a still a relatively newly formed ‘district’ of Chicago and seven years after the annexation of the City of Lake View in 1889.] The original bridge was 184 feet long and 35 feet wide. It was a steel hand operated swing bridge. Designer was unknown [according to this website]. Superstructure Contractor was Lassing Bridge and Iron Company and the substructure contractor was Lydon and Drews Company. The cost was $31,345. 
[As of 2018 this bridge was on its 2nd design.]
An Iowa Project

a blueprint in sections
images - Ebay

Manufacturers 
along the Tracks:

The Chicago & Evanston Railroad was chartered Saturday, February 16, 1861.It was built from Chicago to Calvary Cemetery (10.8 miles), and opened, Friday, May 1, 1885.The railroad was succeeded by the Chicago, Evanston & Lake Superior Railroad in 1885.

1894 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map

zoomed below

to be later called 
Chicago Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway - Evanston Branch
this section of the railway was for freight traffic
Some of the Manufaturers
along this Route:
& Company
manufacturers of ice boxes and hinges
for Butcher Boy Refrigerators
envelope letterhead - Ebay
photo - Worth Point
Butcher Boy was established in 1885 Lake View was a township. This Chicago based company started by manufacturing and selling equipment to the meat processing industry. In the late 1800's people were cutting ice from the lakes and storing it for use during the summer months. Storage houses would be built along the lakes and rivers, and the ice would be stored in these houses. They would line the walls with straw, then fill the houses with ice and cover the ice with more straw. As time went on, there were doors placed on the storage houses. Around 1894 Butcher Boy manufactured some insulated doors that were used on the ice storage houses. Thus, we became manufacturers of cold storage doors. Most of the original doors were swing type doors constructed of wood and insulated with sawdust or mineral wool. As time went on, requirements for different types of doors were needed: double swing doors, Dutch type doors and horizontal sliding doors. As technology changed, so did the doors.
photos - Ebay
They were not only manufacturers of Buther Boy refrigerators but blocks, knives, beef racks, meet hooks, larders, skimmers, meat choppers, bone mills, brushers, scrapers, scales, sausage stuffers, cutters, etc. Furnaces, caldrons, scalding tubs. Portable smoke houses. Windlasses. Engines. Spices, casings, preservatives. Oiled orveralls, aprons, frocks, etc. Grocery counters, butter coolers, tea and coffee bins, and tilting bins. 
a 1923 Sanborn Fire Maps of a factory 
property location from 
Altgeld to Fullerton, Southport to the tracks 
zoomed & rotated
a 2019 Google view of the area
the straight line of park cars was once the Evanston Branch of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul RR
St. Nicholas 
Manufacturing Company
Township of Lake View
City of Lake View
District of Lake View
producer of bicycles 
1879-1898
(click to enlarge text)
a 1894 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map
zoomed & rotated
District of Lake View
990 W Fullerton Avenue
a producer of architectural/measurement supplies
with a sample of their product - drafting tool kit
images above - Made in Chicago Museum
1923 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map
zoomed & rotated
'Anyone who has spent any significant time around the DePaul University campus in [Community of] Lincoln Park will also likely recognize the impressive four-story red brick building at the corner of Fullerton and Sheffield Avenue. Its key feature, most would agree, is the unusual vintage sign above the side entrance door—a sort-of Art Nouveau, bas-relief design displaying the name of the Eugene Dietzgen Company along with a stylized logo of a draftsman’s compass, t-square, and triangles. The number 1906 is also prominently featured, marking the year that this former factory first opened, destined to become a leading producer of “precision equipment and supplies for engineers, draftsmen, surveyors, and scientists.' - Made in Chicago Muesum
photo below - Ebay
1921 catalogue
Googebooks
photos below - Ebay
(Facebook Album)
1151 W Roscoe Street
a publishing company 1900-1956
located along Racine with the main office on Roscoe
1923 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map
and an advertisement 
from the Chicago Examiner in 1917
some of their products
their World Fair exhibit
postcard images - Ebay 
postcard - Ebay
1902 Chicago Tribune 
8x11 Lithograph Inserts 
via Ebay
 
their 3 by 5 inch bookets
sample below

Holiday Cards

doll cut-outs - Ebay image
 part of my private collection


... also located at 1800 W Fullerton Avenue
 the plant on Fullerton Ave
The Rutter 
Coal Company
1246 W Melrose
property was north & south of Belmont

matchbook - part of my collection
a 1923 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map 
zoomed below
images - Ebay
now part of my collection

The owner
image - Ebay
Candy Company 
1245 W Fletcher Street
envelope - Ebay
and their products ...
Butterscotch Patties, Hoarhound Patties, Chocolate Flavored Patties, Sure Good, Clan Butterscotch and more
text of products above - Blue book of Commerce 1940
ad - GG Archives
image below- Chicago's Sweet Candy History
1923 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map - X marks the spot
zoomed below
by 1950 the company had property on both sides of Fletcher Avenue
the buildings were located on both sides of Fletcher Avenue
photo - Chicago Switching
images - Ebay 
below image - Ebay
Some Testimonials 
from LakeView Historical
While on the Subject of
Candy 
* not located near tracks* 
the various locations 
The first one was 
and then shortly after that 
and there were more
*I collected stationary and invoices 
of all their former locations for my collection*
text - Official Referance Book 1922
these 2 page advertisements is part of my collection
1923 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map
zoomed below
Stationary with the Briar address
730-58 Briar Place
  
images above - Chicago Sweet Candy Factory

a matchbook - Ebay
images - Ebay
one of the favorite products
image - Craig Lost Chicago
HQ office building on 
Diversey/Broadway
Another location
622 Diversey Parkway
an invoice from the main office on Diversey/Broadway
This invoice is part of my collection
1950 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map
zoomed below
Their office location was on northeast corner of Diversey and Broadway within their own building that was simply called the Curtiss Building according to this 1950 Sanborn Fire Map
Another location was on Belmont/Seminary
center folds from a magazine
The Belmont location 
letterhead stationary 

4 images - Ebay

a window display below that indicates the location on Broadway
The display is part of my collection
Advertisements:
1933
1943
1947

1962
The warehouse location was at 
which was originally the Wieland Dairy 
at the turn of the 20th century
 photo - Layman Guide to Beer
This building listed in the 
National Registry of Historical Places 
as of 1987
The Best Brewing Company of Chicago was located along the CM&P so to economically transport their product to market. The building was originally owned by brewers Klockgeter & Company in 1885 and then Kagebein & Folstaff one year later. The buildings occupants were many but all related to brewing beer. Their beer products of this company were the ‘Hapsburg Bock’ (1933-1962), ‘Hapsburg Beer’ (1933-1962), and ‘Best Ale’ (1937-1962). Currently, the building is listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1987 and used for residential space. 
1887 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map
X marks the spot
with a zoomed view below
1891 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map
1894 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map
zoomed below
1923 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map
zoomed below
stationary - Ebay
now part of my collection
article below from 
1964 Lake View anniversary magazine
photos - via Christopher Brandt,Forgotten Chicago-Facebook
 photos - Garry Albrecht
photos below - Ebay
and Company
‘By 1880, with an average of over 1,500 men on the payroll at any given time and as many as 4,000 during the peak season to process $17.5 million worth of meat, Armour was Chicago's leading industrial enterprise and employer. By the late 1880s, Armour slaughtered more than 1.5 million animals each year and reached about $60 million in annual sales. Many of those sales derived from the processing of all the parts of the animal “everything but the squeal” making such products as glue, lard, gelatin, and fertilizer.’ 
- Chicago Encyclopedia  
1923 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map
zoomed below
The Clark Coal Company yard is currently the 
one of their products below via Ebay
The Tracks Begin to
 Fade Away at Diversey South
Tracks begin to appear and disappear as late as 2012
- view north and south on Diversey Parkway 
 photos - Garry Albrecht
Peerless Confection 
Company
a candy company 
est. District of Lake View
Community of Lincoln Park 
1914-2007
 photos - Ebay
photo - Chicago: ChiTown/My Town-Facebook
1923 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map
one block south of Diversey Parkway
zoomed below
photo- Industrial History:C&E
 photos - Ebay

C&E heading towards Peerless Confection - 2000
photos - Chicago Switching
their tin of candies - Ebay
And
The Other RR Tracks
Chicago & North Western Railroad Route
was following:
1923 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map
follow the X's
rotated below
a publisher & printing company
once located at the southeast corner 
of Ravenswood Avenue & Irving Park Road
postcard - Ebay
'The Curt Teich Company was founded in Chicago, Illinois, by Curt Teich (1877–1974) in 1898. The company printed postcards, view postcards, and advertising cards, and became the world's largest printer of postcards.'
postcard - Chicago History in Postcards
Excerpt from an article published by Made in Chicago Museum
'In 1909, when Congress passed the new Payne-Aldrich tariff imposing an import duty on all postcards printed from Germany. The American printing companies celebrated their good fortune. Only one, however, was truly in prime position to fill the production gap from Europe. “It takes one to know one,” as they say, and nobody knew the latest German printing methods quite like Curt Teich, owner of Curt Teich & Company. Teich’s increasingly eye-catching designs and growing fleet of offset presses (soon able to print 100+ cards on one sheet and roughly 500,000 cards per day, per machine) sent his business blazing into the 1910’s. A team of 10 print shop workers back in 1901 had grown to 80 by 1906, and 190 by 1911, when the company purchased an expansive new headquarters at 1745 W. Irving Park Road. Many of the employees making the move to the new building were fellow German immigrants and uniquely trained artists, specializing in photolithography, as well as drawing and retouching.' 
postcard - Ebay
'The decision was made to invest in several new high-speed, offset rotary presses—massive machines that could rapidly print 32 different card designs, in full color, on one sheet. As an added wrinkle, Curt also devised a cost-saving hybrid method that was inspired by German trends, but still uniquely his own. It essentially involved combining traditional letterpress printing (with a black halftone base) and offset lithography, which could overprint four-color inks. When the “golden age” of postcards ended, i.e., when the initial bubble burst on sales slowed just before World War I, hundreds of publishers either folded or counted their losses and moved along to the next trend. Curt Teich & Company was one of the exceptions; not only surviving, but thriving. Yes, machining and technical prowess had played a large part in the firm’s emergence as the standard-bearers for the trade, but mass production only mattered if you also had the orders to fill, and Teich mobilized client acquisition better than anyone else.'

'By the 1910’s, Curt Teich & Company was producing about 150 million postcards annually, a large percentage of which were being purchased at so-called “five and dime” stores, such as F. W. Woolworth, where racks of local interest cards were routinely picked over and restocked. Teich saw this development early on, and became an exclusive supplier to Woolworth and other similar retailers. “One of the important things about the Teich company is that they printed whatever came through their doors,” says Katherine Hamilton-Smith, who presided over the Teich postcard archives when they were housed at the Lake County Discovery Museum to be moved to Chicago’s Newberry Library in 2016.' 

both postcards - Chuckman Collection
Per the National Register Nomination for Chicago, the Curt Teich and Company, Inc. building is a heavy timber and masonry loft industrial structure. It consists of an original three story (west) section and a five story (east) addition.' The building is located on the southeast corner of Irving Park Road and East Ravenswood, along the light industrial corridor next to the railroad tracks in the neighborhood known as Ravenswood. The building faces north on Irving Park Road. It was known as the world's largest volume printer that manufactured postcards. The company operated from 1898 to 1978. 
Before Curt Teich
images - Ebay
'J. S. McDonald & Company by 1901. J.S. McDonald & Co 
produce loose-leaf ledgersIt was then purchased by Curt Teich in 1910. Though the exact date and the architect of this building are unknown, it bears resemblance to the Dearborn Street station at Polk and Dearborn, built in 1885 and designed by architect Cyrus L. W. Eidlitz. It is built of red pressed brick in a Romanesque design.' 
 National Register Nominations For Chicago

images - Ebay
tri-image postcard with a linen surface
 from Hip Postcard
According the publication 'Hidden History of Ravenswood & Lake View' by Patrick Butler (p. 116) "salespeople would take pictures of local landmarks or businesses and try to get those businesses to order postcards to promote the local attractions". 
'Welcome to Chicago' Postcards
part of my collection
 

 


 a 1910 Booklet
photos - Ebay




Appleton Electric 
Company
*not based in Chicago*
1701 W Wellington Avenue
photo above - 75th Lake View anniversary magazine
1923 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map
1950 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map
there was five additions from 1937-1946 (brown)
manual - Ebay
Manufacturing to Residencial in 1999
Hermitage Avenue Extended
A Google Map View
A Google Earth View
of the now residential area
Automobile Accessories & Radio's
District of Lake View
Community of North Central
Property Area
 from George Street to Diversey Parkwy,
Wolcott to a once Deering Yards to the east of the factory
photo - Service Merchandisers 1940'-50's
The factory is constructed in sections from 
1915-1923
their offices zoomed below
from 'Made in Chicago' title link
'The company was founded as Stewart & Clark Company in 1905 by John K. Stewart. Their speedometers were used in the Ford Model T. In 1912 John Stewart joined with Edgar Bassick to make vehicle instruments and horns. Bassick owned Alemite Co. and Stewart had bought the Warner Instrument Company; thus the name was changed to the Stewart-Warner Corporation. The company started in Chicago and built a manufacturing plant on Diversey Parkway. The building kept expanding and finally covered one million square feet (93,000 m²) and six floors. At its peak S-W employed 6000 people at the Diversey complex. They also made radios and refrigerators, among other products, and produced the ubiquitous "zerk" grease fitting, named after its inventor, associated with the company. In the last years of the company's Chicago factory, it owned a number of aging six-spindle Brown & Sharpe and New Britain screw machines.
1918 advertisement - Ebay
The Diversey Parkway complex was the site of both S-W's international headquarters and the Instrument & Alemite manufacturing operations. "Alemite" referred to S-W's line of lubricating stations, and "Instruments" referred to speedometers and similar gauges. The front that faced Diversey was the location of corporate offices, while to the rear was manufacturing with a warehouse south of Diversey. A large employee cafeteria was inside the main building, which also included an underground garage for executives (including CEO Bennett Archambault, who arrived each morning by limousine) with an entrance off Wolcott just north of Diversey. Corporate archives were housed in the basement below the main tower, and executive offices were in the top floors of the tower. Stewart-Warner operated a free shuttle van service for employees who commuted by train to and from the Clybourn Metra (C&NW) station. In 1981 S-W experienced a labor strike at the Chicago operations. The Elgin site was eventually taken over by Middleby Corporation.' - Wikipedia

Some of their Auto Products

photos - Ebay

0-150 LB AIR PRESSURE GAUGE Race Sprint Car
Gauge Panel 2-1/4" O.D. Amperes Oil Pressure Temperature
and
Large Amperes Amps Gauge Curved Glass Tulip Needle
R535 Tube Radio Outer Casing Outer Bakelite casing
and  
AM/SW Tube Radio R1401A
Abbott 
Alkaloidal Company
 aka 
Abbott Laboratories
4753 N (East) Ravenswood (Park) Avenue
established in 1888
when Lake View was a city within Cook County

a medical kit - Ebay
medicine bottle - Ebay
Wallace C. Abbott
photo - Abbott Labs website
Abbott Laboratories traces its beginnings to 1888 when Dr. Wallace C. Abbott operated a small pharmaceutical facility in the kitchen of his apartment [and then later in the basement of his home on 
4605 N Hermitage Avenue with images of billing with the factory address on them.
image - Ebay
 images - Ebay
image - Ravenswood-Lake View Association
'[His company] produced pills called "dosimetric granules," which provided a uniform quantity of drugs. He sold his products to other physicians, and in 1900 the business was incorporated in Illinois as Abbott Alkaloidal Company. By 1905 annual sales grew to $200,000. The name was changed to Abbott Laboratories in 1915. During World War I, Abbott prospered by developing anesthetics that were previously only available from Germany. These included procaine, a replacement for German novocaine and barbital; a substitute for veronal. After the war Abbott built a manufacturing plant in North Chicago.' - Lehmann Brothers Collection
a vintage medicine bottle
part of my collection
District of Lake View 
established in 1897
The finest mallet percussion instruments 
ever created in the United States

'Chicago was arguably the epicenter of all things percussive instruments in the early to mid 20th century, and two of its biggest producers—Ludwig and Slingerland—are still familiar names. There was a time, however, when the innovations and international esteem of the J. C. Deagan Company topped them all—albeit for a slightly less rockin’ clientele. Deagan didn’t manufacture snares, toms, or kick drums, after all, but rather chimes, vibes, xylophones, and tubular bells—dings and tings heard everywhere from vaudeville stages to symphony halls.' - Made in Chicago Museum
postcard - Chuckman Collection
 photos - Century Mallet Instrumental Service
 
 
Currently, home of 
 Watch a video 
about their instruments
once an engraving business
in 1908 moved to 
when Lake View was still regarded as a district within Chicago
Sample of their products
photo - Ebay
zoomed below
 
established in 1896
when Lake View was still regarded as a district in Chicago
Per Wikipedia, a ‘watchclock’ is a mechanical clock used by security guards as part of their guard tour patrol system which require regular patrols. The most commonly used form was the mechanical clock systems that required a key for manual punching of a number to a strip of paper inside with the time pre-printed on it. 
photos - Ebay
4143 N Ravenswood
a sewage and treatment company
advertisement - Stor
F.W. Steward 
Manufacturing Company
image - Popular Science
advertisement - Antique Fans Collectors Association
advertisements - Antique Fans Supply Company
text (red star) - State of Illinois Biennial Report of 1912
 2018 Google Earth view 

Union Linen Supply Company was established in Chicago in 1911. Union originated in a garage in Waukegan; and primarily serviced Racine, Kenosha, and Waukegan. However, Union utilized the train stations 2-3 times a week to service customers in Chicago. In the late 1920s, Union moved into our current location in what is now known as the Ravenswood community in Chicago. Like our facility in Detroit, what is now a commercial laundry, was actually a horse stable in the early 1900s.  Pictured below is Winter Olsen, owner of Union Linen Supply Company and our modern fleet.

 2018 Google Maps view

zoomed view from a 1928 Sanbor Fire Insurance Map
District of Lake View
1500 (East) Ravenswood Avenue (Park)
(pre-1909 address)
1905 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map
with a zoomed view below
a sample of their products
photos - Garry Albrecht, owner

The China-Painter
images - Fine Art Journal 1911
They most popolar seriewe of dishware at the time
In the Shop
trademarks & more samples
Boye Needle
Company
District of Lake View
all photos - Ebay
text image - Fiddlecase
the inside mechanism
located Belmont Avenue since 1902
When Lake View was regarded as a District of Chicago
photos - Yo Chicago
a sample of their craftsmanship
 
images - Elston Press

The Founder and his Legacy 1936
an article in 1984

THE LAST SEGMENT POST
The Manufacturing 
Land Scars 
The current scars of long gone manufacturing companies 
are disapearing. Here are two of them as of 2021
Arrow Petroleum Company
1624 W Wolfram Avenue
and
a land area for their power plant
Illinois Mallaeble Iron Company
that had three different locations
2019 Google Map Views
a snap shot below - Cityscape
2019 Google Views ground level
along Paulina view east
Paulina & Wolfram intersection
along Wolfram east
the office building Wolfram to be demo'ed
a 1950 Sanborn Fire Insurance view 
of the neighborhood - X marks the spot
same map and zoomed
zoomed further
Craft Plating & 
Tinning Company
1225 W School Street
2019 Google Earth view
below - their profile from Buzzfile
 pre 2019 photo aerial view - Cityscape
2019 Google Map views

'Lexington Homes plans to construct up to 12 single-family homes on the subject property. The development consists of nine lots on School Street and three lots on Melrose Avenue. The homes will range in size from approximately 4,000 square feet to approximately 5,000 square feet. Each home will have a 2-car garage accessed form the alley. Roof decks will be provided on the garages and top floor of the homes. Prices for the homes are expected to start at approximately $2 Million. Construction of the homes is expected to begin in Spring of 2022, with the completion of all of the homes projected in early 2024. In conjunction with the redevelopment of the site, environmental remediation work will be done, commencing in January 2022. The portion of the east-west alley between School Street and Melrose Avenue that was previously vacated will be rededicated as a public alley and reconstructed.' 

The Contamination Issue in 1994

1950 Sanborn Fire Insurance Mapneighborhood view and  zoomed viewand a more zoomed view belowThe Plan Development as of 2020

The Clay Pits 

Ice Ponds:

There was several companies that dug into the earth 
for clay to manufacture bricks
 a majority of the ponds/clay pits in modern Lake View 
were located south of Diversey north of Fullerton
per this 1887 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map
"When clay pits satisfied or nearly satisfied their usefulness, most often, the earth pits would be allowed by the owners to be filled-in with water (naturally?) causing ice ponds that kids would use for winter fun. But as the articles below indicate the summer months tell a different and much less fun story of the unhealthy conditions of the pits when the brick manufacturers abandoned their now useless pits. The article mentions that the pits were allowed to filled with garbage and other waste products in the humid and hot summer months with some of the pits located near schools. The odor was repugnant too to bare." - The Chicago Tribune article's text is dated June 17, 1892. 
sectional map 1
sectional  map 2
sectional map 3
the building on the lower right is Prescott School
west of Ashland
sectional map 4
Began in 1863 ...
from book called the
Lake View Saga 1837-1985
The Brick Yards Locations
of Old Lake View
Chicago bricks were tucked away on the back, sides, and interiors of buildings. You can still spot them there. In 1871 there were 5 brickyards in Cook County. By 1881 there were 60. By 1915, 10% of all brick made in America was made in Chicago. Chicago was transformed from a city of wood to a city of brick. The last Chicago Common brick maker was closed in 1981, and no Chicago Common bricks have been made since.
various locations:
 Ashland Avenue in 1891
a zoomed view of two of those companies
Some Other Locations
per 1887 Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps
Greenview to Ashland & Barry to Diversey
with a zoom view of some of them
A few along Western Avenue
that was the western border of old Lake View
1894 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map
Western & Grace
Western & Warner
for Brick Making



Labor Troubles in 1884
Who's Fault is It?
in 1892
The Clay/Ice Pits 
Reclaimed their Space
 Before the Big Tunnel in the 1970's 
by Lance Grey
"Interesting how they took advantage of the ancient lake beds in the swath from Fullerton to Belmont. - Not only for brickyards, but in the Winter months for small artificial Lakes centered near today's Wrightwood Park, to build Ice Houses & Kilns (per Chas. Rascher 1887 maps) - And the role the clay plays in recurring flooding problems in the area- as experienced near this Quonset Warehouse known as Majestic Screw & Bolt where I worked in the '70’s just south of Diversey on Greenview. [Shown in a May-1955 photo]"

Preliminary Comprehensive City Plan of Chicago by the Chicago Commission 

1946 map - Chicago & the Midwest/Newberry Library

northside view

A Post Note:

There were many more business that I have omitted to mention in this post but not any less important to the history of Lake View.

Please follow me to my next post called

Important Note:
These posts are exclusively used for educational purposes. I do not wish to gain monetary profit from this blog nor should anyone else without permission for the original source - thanks!