Museum Artifacts: TootsieToy Die-Cast Cars: No. 4655 Ford Model A Coupe and No. 4629 Sedan, c. 1928
Made By: Dowst Brothers / Dowst Manufacturing Co., 4537 W. Fulton St., Chicago, IL
Chicago-based brothers Charles and Samuel Dowst were arguably as foundational to the toy car industry as Henry Ford was to the real thing. It was work on a significantly smaller scale,
Museum Artifact: Murray’s Superior Hair Dressing Pomade, 1926
Made By: Murray’s Superior Products Company, 3610 S. Cottage Grove Ave., Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Museum Artifact: Surety Powdered Hand Soap, c. 1920s
Made By: Surety Manufacturing Company, 607 N. Wells St., Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Museum Artifact: Indestro Bottle Capper, 1920s
Made By: Indestro MFG Co., 3429 W. 47th St. / Duro Metal Products, 2649 N. Kildare Ave.
When Gertrude McNaught Odlum died in 1992, aged 96, she was widely remembered as an award-winning breeder of dairy cows, owning a pair of multi-million dollar farms in the Chicago suburbs (“Rolling Acres” and “Odlum Farm”). Far less publicized,
Museum Artifact: Bear Brand Hosiery Box – Women’s Hose 103 Biscayne, c. 1920s
Made By: Bear Brand Hosiery Company (formerly Paramount Knitting Co.), 337 W. Madison St., Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Museum Artifact: Thordarson Amplifying Transformer, c. 1920s
Made By: Thordarson Electric Manufacturing Co., 500 W. Huron St., Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Museum Artifacts: Cretors Popcorn Wagon Steam Engine, 1908, and Pop Corn Carton, 1920s
Made By: C. Cretors & Company, 600 W. Cermak Road, Chicago, IL
“Cretors’ Pop Corn is the most pleasing of any in the world. No other novelty gives such a degree of enjoyment and satisfaction for the money. Relished by all, young or old—rich and poor alike, during all seasons of the year—it wins instant success everywhere,
Museum Artifact: John Crane Metallic Water Pump Packing, Style 112, c. 1920s
Made By: Crane Packing Company, 1800 W. Cuyler Avenue, Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Museum Artifact: “Red Cross” Spaghetti Box, c. 1920s
Made By: The John B. Canepa Company, 302-310 W. Grand Ave., Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Museum Artifact: Silver Coffee Pot (Sheridan Plaza Hotel), 1920s
Made by: Albert Pick & Company, 1200 W. 35th Street, Chicago, IL
“The Sheridan-Plaza Hotel Cafeteria operates from 8 o’clock in the morning until 12 o’clock at night and is always busy. The management of the Sheridan-Plaza, having made thorough study of conditions in the surrounding neighborhood, knew that a cafeteria operating all day and night would be a success.
Museum Artifact: Candy Cigarettes – Penny Package Wrapper, c. 1920s
Made By: American Licorice Company, 2321 N. Keystone Ave., Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Museum Artifact: Wood Candies 3LB Tin, 1920s
Made By: Wood Candy Co., 930 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Museum Artifacts: Jinx Cleaner (c. 1920s) and Moth Crystal Vaporizer (c. 1960s)
Made By: Claire MFG Co., 6742 S. Yale Avenue, Chicago, IL
In 1927, Chicago municipal court judge Theodore F. Ehler—presiding during the height of mob warfare and corruption—made headlines for the unusual sentences he started imposing on a less romanticized element of the city’s criminal underbelly: deadbeat husbands.
Rather than sending these sad sacks off to jail,
Museum Artifact: No. 45 “Hold Heet” Marcel Waver Curling Iron, c. 1920
Made By: Russell Electric Company, 340 W. Huron Street, Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Museum Artifacts: (1) “U.S. Automatic” Pencil Sharpener, 1908; (1) “Giant,” (1) ‘Gem,” (2) “Chicago” (1920s), and (4) “Dexter” sharpeners, 1930s
Made By: Automatic Pencil Sharpener Co. / Spengler-Loomis MFG Co., 58 E. Washington St., Chicago, IL . Factory: 2415 Kishwaukee Street, Rockford, IL.
For many of us, the sight of an old desk-mounted, mechanical pencil sharpener brings back some sensory-charged childhood memories—the thrilling turn of the crank,
Museum Artifacts: “Red Top” Eversharp Pencil Leads, F Firm (1920s) and Eversharp “Repeater” Pencil Store Display ft. Ann Sothern (1946)
Made By: The Wahl Company / Wahl-Eversharp., 1800 N. Roscoe St., Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Museum Artifact: Cardboard cans of Quick Mother’s Oats, Quaker Rolled White Oats, and Quaker Best Yellow Corn Meal, c. 1920s
Made By: The Quaker Oats Company, 80 E. Jackson Blvd., Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Museum Artifact: Ovaltine “Food Beverage” Tin, 1921
Made By: The Wander Company, 37 S. Wabash Ave. (HQ), Factory at 1 Ovaltine Court, Villa Park
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Museum Artifact: Cracker Jack Cocoanut Corn Crisp Tin, c. 1930
Made By: The Cracker Jack Company, 4800 W. 66th Street, Chicago, IL
“You can eat as much as you like!” That’s how the Cracker Jack Company marketed its new Cocoanut Corn Crisp to America in 1928, assuring all snackers that these “luscious lumps of goodness” were “healthful, pure, and wholesome.” Not being a doctor or nutritionist,
Museum Artifacts: Bunte “Fine Confections, “Diana,” “Stuft” and “World Famous Candies” Tins by Bunte Brothers, 1910s-1930s
Made By: Bunte Brothers Candy, 3301 W. Franklin Blvd., Chicago, IL
Which industry best exemplified the spirit of Chicago at its manufacturing zenith? The steel mills? The Union Stock Yards? The railroads? Architecture?
Nope. It was definitely candy—sweet, delectable, teeth-rotting candy.
For the thousands of Chicago factory workers employed in the confectionery trade,
Museum Artifact: Woman’s Hat, aka Fiskhat, c. 1920s
Made By: D.B. Fisk & Co., 225 N. Wabash Ave., Chicago, IL
“Well dressed women who follow fashion to the finest details show keen interest in millinery bearing the Fiskhat label. They know it means ‘Style and Quality Assured.'” –D. B. Fisk newspaper ad, 1923
The slow death of the millinery trade in America is usually attributed to a simple change in fashion trends—something about the 1960s cultural revolution vs.
Museum Artifact: Swanberg Mechanical Pencil, c. 1923
Made By: Swanberg MFG Co., 1516 W. Foster Ave., Chicago, IL
Once seemingly destined to take its place as mankind’s preferred writing stick, the mechanical pencil only ended up writing itself into a corner. No refinement, no reimagining from one generation to the next, could ever quite transition these utensils from the drafting room to the classroom;
Museum Artifact: Universal Polish Mop, 1920s
Made By: Grossman MFG Co. / Western Steel & Chemical Co., Inc., 4000 S. Cottage Grove Ave., Chicago, IL
No it’s not a Polish mop as “in the style of Poland,” but ’tis instead a polish mop, as in to clean and polish one’s floors. Pre-treated cedar oil mops were routinely sold in tins like this one during the early 20th century,
