1837-present
After attempting to replicate an Indian recipe, John Wheeley Lea and William Perrins introduced their Worcestershire sauce around 1837. The sauce was sold internationally by 1870, allowing for American manufacture of the sauce. The…
1868-?
Dr. J. Parker Pray’s story is inextricably tied to that of his first wife, Mary E. Cobb. Having been trained as a manicurist shortly after their 1874 marriage, Cobb opened her first salon in 1878. Pray was originally a chiropodist, but had…
An 8-year-old Henry John Heinz began his entrepreneurial career in 1852 selling extra vegetables from his mother’s garden; seven years later, he started bottling and selling horseradish. In 1869, Heinz and L. Clarence Noble launch Heinz and Noble,…
1796-1968
Founded in 1796 by Thomas Minton, Mintons first focused on producing practical tableware, often with prints like the kitten print on the plate below, found at the Charnley-Persky House. After Thomas’s son, Herbert, took control of the…
1885-1966
Bowman Dairy Co. first came to Chicago in 1885, an outgrowth of a St. Louis milk venture; six years later, Bowman was concentrated in Chicago alone. In early years, Bowman was known for its horse-drawn wagons distributing milk (pictured…
1857-Present
Sanford’s Manufacturing Company was founded in Massachusetts in 1857 and moved to Chicago in 1866. The company sold a range of products, but was best known for its ink (as the 1920 ad below attest); in the 1940s, the company changed…
A piece of Belleek pottery found in the Charnley-Persky House Archaeological Project, showing a first period black mark, dating its manufacture between 1863-1890.
1852-present
E. H. Sargent was established in 1852; a bottle embossed with the company’s name was found at the Charnley-Persky House in 2010. In 1875, Sargent began marketing through a catalog, the first recorded mail order solicitation for…
1871-1923
In 1871, A. G. Burley & Co. (established 1838) became Burley & Tyrrell, importers of glassware and china; the retail business was sold to a nephew in 1883, calling itself Burley & Co. (advertised below in 1902). The companies existed side…
1897-1922?
John J. Schmitt became a pharmacist at the turn of the 20th-century, opening his own drugstore at the corner of Clark and Arlington Place as early as 1897. He remained in the same location (pictured below in an undated photograph) at…
