Museum Artifact: Super-Sensitive Stainless Strings – Viola A and D Strings, c. 1950s
Made By: Super Sensitive Musical String Company, 4814 W. Division St., Chicago, IL
The Super-Sensitive Musical String Company has the longest name of any business featured in the Made In Chicago Museum, but its time in Chicago was comparatively brief; and its clientele notably niche. Before and after moving its operation to Florida in the early 1970s,
Museum Artifact: Glass Carafe and Warmer, 1950s
Made By: Inland Glass Works (aka Inland Glass Co.), div. of Club Aluminum Products Co. 6101 W. 65th Street, Chicago, IL
“Center of attention . . . your fashionable INLAND Carafe! Family and guests will love the scintillating beauty of this hand-blown glass server, smartly trimmed in either gleaming copper or platinum. Matching tripod candle warmer adds charm,
Museum Artifact: Vaughan’s Grip-Tite Bottle Stopper, Perfo-Siphon Bottle Stopper, and Fox Deluxe Punch-Style Bottle Opener, c. 1950s
Made By: Vaughan Novelty MFG Co., 3211 W. Carroll Ave., Chicago, IL
The bottle and the bottle opener—a vital symbiotic relationship that’s been mildly inconveniencing mankind for generations. No one ever knows exactly where their bottle opener is at any given moment, nor where it came from in the first place.
Museum Artifact: Webster “Electronic Memory” Wire Recorder, Model 180-1, c. 1949
Made By: Webster-Chicago Corp., aka WebCor, 5622 W. Bloomingdale Ave., Chicago, IL
“The Electronic Memory is truly one of the most useful additions to the modern home. Not only does it afford the never-failing amusement of hearing one’s own voice or dramatic productions, but it is also invaluable for wire-recording outstanding programs and fine music from radio or record discs,
Museum Artifact: Big Beam No. 164 Sealed Beam Beacon Lamp and Big Beam No. 403 F Emergency Lamp, 1950s
Made By: U-C Lite MFG Co., 1050 W. Hubbard St., Chicago, IL
First of all, don’t call it a flashlight. This particular style of life-saving, portable illumination was known as a “hand lamp” (or “hand lantern”), and similar models are still being manufactured today—some of them by the very same company that produced the two mid-century artifacts in our museum collection.
Museum Artifact: Industrial Cover Goggles, c. 1950s
Made By: Chicago Eye Shield Company, aka CESCO, 2300 W. Warren Blvd., Chicago, IL
“CESCO’s complete line of head and eye safety equipment always benefits users—prevents injuries, saves lives, saves dollars and earns profits.” —Chicago Eye Shield Company advertisement, 1945
The Chicago Eye Shield Company, aka CESCO, was founded in 1903—the same year the Wright Brothers ushered in the aeronautics age,
Museum Artifact: Kay Stanley’s Model-Craft Molding & Coloring Set No. 3A – “Cowboys and Indians”, c. 1950s
Made By: Model-Craft, Inc., 521 W. Monroe St., Chicago, IL
“Five feet two and weighing 117 pounds, Kay Stanley can be as tough as a truck driver and as charming as a Perle Mesta. At home at any machine in her factory, she is still a charming hostess in her near North Side apartment in Chicago,
Museum Artifact: Dormeyer Orbital Electric Sander, c. 1950s
Made By: The Dormeyer Corporation, 700 North Kingsbury St., Chicago, IL
“Your Dormeyer Sander is so well balanced in design and so light in weight that you can use it for hours without fatigue. Just let the sander do the work!” —Dormeyer Power Tools Instruction Manual, c. 1956
The A. F.
Museum Artifact: Oh Henry! Candy Bar Box, c. 1950s
Made By: Williamson Candy Company, 4701 W. Armitage Ave., Chicago, IL
Introduced by the Williamson Candy Co. in 1920, the Oh Henry! was the first of Chicago’s holy trinity of chocolate/peanut/caramel candy bars, pre-dating the Baby Ruth (Curtiss Candy Co.) by a year* and Snickers (Mars, Inc.) by a decade.
Museum Artifacts: Rain King Model D Sprinkler, Sunbeam Mixmaster Junior, and Sunbeam Steam or Dry Iron, 1950s
Made By: Sunbeam Corp. / Chicago Flexible Shaft Co., 5600 W. Roosevelt Rd., Chicago, IL
“Whenever a Sunbeam appliance goes into a home, it isn’t long before others follow. That’s because Sunbeam appliances all give that extra measure of satisfaction that creates sincere enthusiasm and confidence.” —Sunbeam Mixmaster Junior instruction manual,
Museum Artifact: Three Musketeers, Milky Way, Snickers, and Mars Toasted Almond Bar Display Boxes, 1930s-1950s
Made By: Mars Incorporated, 2019 N. Oak Park Ave, Chicago, IL
“The finest quality ingredients blended by the most skillful workers in the most modern institution of its kind.” – Mars Bar display box, 1930s
Still consistently ranked among the top ten largest privately owned companies,
Museum Artifact: Cadet Bicycle Speedometer and Stewart-Warner Television + Stand, 1950s
Made By: Stewart-Warner Corp., 1826 W. Diversey Pkwy, Chicago, IL
“The ‘Cadet’ Bike Speedometer is not a toy! It’s a precision instrument, just like the one on your Dad’s car! It’s made by famous Stewart-Warner, the same company that has made millions of speedometers for cars, trucks, buses and motorcycles.” —Stewart-Warner advertisement,
Museum Artifact: “Swing Girl” Electronic Mantle Clock, c. 1950
Made By: MasterCrafters Clock & Radio Co., 216 N. Clinton St., Chicago, IL
The MastersCrafters Clock & Radio Company was a literal mom and pop shop through most of its 50 year existence—operated first by Ben Lerman and his wife Kate in the 1940s and ‘50s, then by their daughter Doris and her husband Bernard Ellman into the 1980s.
Museum Artifact: General Motors Locomotive Data Card (Electro-Motive Div.), 1950s
Made By: Toby Rubovits, Inc., 127 S. Aberdeen St., Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Museum Artifact: Headlight Lantern, c. 1950s
Made By: Justrite Manufacturing Company, 2061 N. Southport Ave., Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Museum Artifact: Superior “CUB” Kids Rotary Printing Press No. 8401, c. 1950s
Made By: Superior Marking Equipment Co. / SMECO (aka Superior Rubber Type Co.), 1800 W. Larchmont Ave., Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Museum Artifact: Monark Silver King “Roadster” Girls Bicycle, 1950s
Made By: Monark Silver King, Inc., 6501 W. Grand Ave.
“Now—An Aluminum Bicycle! The same metal which made possible present-day high-speed trains and airplanes, makes the frame of the new-type SILVER KING bicycle. Aluminum alloy—much lighter than steel, but with 3 times the tensile strength, weight for weight. Gives faster speed, greater strength, and snappier appearance.” —advertisement for the first Monark Silver King bicycle,
Museum Artifact: Hallicrafters Model 5R34A Continental Radio, 1952
Made By: Hallicrafters Company, 4401 W. Fifth Ave., Chicago, IL
“For radio equipment that won’t be satisfied with the limits of the pre-war world, for radio that will go places and do things hitherto undreamed of and uncharted—look to Hallicrafters, builders of the radio man’s radio.”—Hallicrafters magazine advertisement, 1944
William J.
Museum Artifact: Elgo American Plastic Bricks set No. 705 (1950s) and Halsam Double Twelve Club Dominoes (1960s)
Made By: Halsam Products Co., 4114 N. Ravenswood Ave., Chicago, IL
Upon encountering an old cylindrical cardboard container of “American Plastic Bricks by Elgo,” nine out of ten people are likely to make the same spontaneous assumption—that they’re looking at a cheap knockoff of LEGO.
Museum Artifact: Gateway Junior Model NP-1 Sewing Machine, c. 1950
Made By: Gateway Engineering Company / Gateway Erectors, Inc., 233 W. Grand Ave., Chicago, IL
“The Toy Sewing Machine that really sews!” —1948 advertisement for the Gateway Junior Model
Produced only for a short time from the late 1940s into the 1950s, the Gateway line of toy sewing machines represents a case study in a business making the most out of its extraneous materials.
Museum Artifact: Imperial Satellite 127 Flash Camera, c. 1950s
Made By: Herbert George Company, 311 N. Desplaines St.., Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Museum Artifact: Turtle Wax “Hard Shell Finish” Auto Polish and Turtle Wax Furniture Polish Set, 1950s
Made By: Plastone Company / Turtle Wax, Inc., 4100 W. Grand Ave. and 1800 N. Clybourn Ave.
On June 4, 1956—just five years after the first bottles of Turtle Wax “Miracle Auto Polish” hit the consumer market—Chicago workmen began installing a new, ludicrously enormous advertisement for the product,
Museum Artifact: LMCO Cody Colt Paper Buster Gun, 1950s
Made By: Langson MFG Co., 4200 W. Wrightwood Ave., Chicago, IL
It might have the look and sound of a typical cowboy-themed cap gun from the 1950s, but there’s something a tad different about the LMCO “Cody Colt”—something that helps distinguish Chicago’s Langson Manufacturing Company from most of the competing toy gun manufacturers of its era.
