Browse Items (1845 total)

Kilner Brothers 1869.png

1857-1937
Kilner Brothers Glass Company was established in 1857 after James Kilner & Sons split in two, following the death of James Kilner Sr. in the same year. Kilner Brothers produced medical, dispensing, drug, soda water, mineral water, and beer…

1797-present
First produced in 1797, Keiller marmalade became one of the largest confectioners in the UK. The company first used the name James Keiller & Son in 1827, and the product grew worldwide by 1857. Keiller marmalade is still available…
1902-carters-ink-ad.jpg

1860-1976
In 1860, William Carter traded his paper wholesale business for an ink-selling business; at the outbreak of the Civil War, Carter snagged the recipe for ink and glue from his supplier, allowing him to manufacture their own ink. In 1872,…
Appomattox Courthouse.jpg

1812-present
Waterbury Button Company was established in 1812 during the United States’ war against the U.K. of the same year, producing stamped metal buttons for the armed forces. During the Civil War, both sides wore Waterbury buttons on their…
Phillips Milk of Magnesia 1880.png

1873-present
Patented in 1873, Phillips’ Milk of Magnesia is still a popular over-the-counter antacid today. Charles Henry Phillips quickly began marketing his combination of hydrate of magnesia with water to create the product, emphasising its…
Bixby_s Shoe Polish -1919A.jpg

1865-1920s
Samuel Merrill Bixby began manufacturing and selling shoe blacking in 1860, selling his short-lived shoe store to focus full-time on the venture in 1865. Soon after, S. M. Bixby & Company was formed, producing a wide range of dye-related…
gulden1922gh.jpg

1867-present
Still in production today, Gulden’s Mustard was one of the first brown mustards introduced to the American public. Sources disagree on the start date for this company;ConAgra (the conglomerate that now owns Gulden’s) boasts 1862 as…
bromocaffeine-ad 1890.jpg

1873-1886
Keasbey & Mattison Company was established 1873 as a pharmaceutical company, mostly selling patent medicines and curatives; one of their most popular products was Bromo Caffeine. See the 1890 advertisement for this product and a bottle…
Hires ad 1894.jpg

1876-present
Charles E. Hires Root Beer was initially developed as a medicinal syrup or tonic, but the soft drink quickly became an international hit. While on his honeymoon in 1875, Hires was served a root tea similar to that Native Americans…
synagogue-map-EoC.png
Chicago’s Shifting Synagogue Landscape

An image of the B'nai Shalom synagogue edifice, c. 1900. Previous to 1890, this building housed K.A.M. synagogue.
Mum 1914.png

1888-present
Mum was the first company to manufacture deodorant. Mum was the first company to manufacture deodorant. Invented in 1888, Mum deodorant targeted armpit and foot odor; sold in small tins, Mum advertised itself with the slogan “Mum’s…
John Wyeth & Bro 1922.png

1860-1932
Founded as John Wyeth & Brother Chemists in Philadelphia in 1860, Wyeth remains a giant in the pharmaceutical industry. John and Frank Wyeth set themselves apart by mixing medicinal compounds in large batches ahead of time, allowing the…
Whitall Tatum Co 1922.png

1857-1901
Whitall Tatum and Company produced glassware for well over a century, mostly prescription bottles, and was best known for its “flint” (colorless) glass. The company went through a few name changes since its 1806 start as a window glass…
Duffy Malt Whiskey 1905.jpg

1880s-1926
Walter B. Duffy, born in Canada in 1840, was one of the most prominent businessmen and distillers in Rochester New York in the late 19th and 20th centuries; his Malt Whiskey was one of the most popular nationwide at the height of the…
Cunninghams & Ihmsen 1877 ad.png

1886-1902
Cunningham & Co. Ltd. was just one iteration of the glassworks headed by the Cunningham family in Pittsburgh in the second half of the 19th-century. The family got its start with the Pittsburg City Glass Works (ad below) around 1845; this…
Putnam Stopper Ad 1901.png

Henry W. Putnam was born in 1825 in Essex, NY and entered the glass business at the age of 34 with a patent for a wire contraption that held a cork in place in the mouth of a bottle. Putnam’s history is tied up in that of Charles de Quillfeldt and…
Edwin M Knowles Ad 1910.jpeg

1900-1962
Edwin M. Knowles was born in 1869, the son of Isaac Watt Knowles, founder of Knowles, Taylor & Knowles Co. (one of the largest American pottery companies at the turn of the 20th century). A graduate of Harvard, Edwin took control of…
Hazel-Atlas Ad.jpeg

1902-1964
The Hazel Glass Company merged with the Atlas Glass Company in 1902, forming the Hazel-Atlas Glass Company, which quickly became one of the largest glass manufacturers in the world iwth 14 plants across the country. In 1957, the company…
2. Klein's Harvard Rye Sign*.JPG

1875-1920
Started by Samuel H. Klein of the Klein Brothers distillery. Advertisements for the liquor (as the one below) were known to be scandalous for the time, often depicting young men in mortar boards reminiscent of the institution for which the…
1924 Master Lock.jpg

1921-present
Founded in 1921 by Harry Soref, Master Lock still produces a wide range of padlocks today. An early innovator in padlocks, Master Lock patented the Laminated Steel padlock in 1924, the same manner in which bank vaults are protected, as…
1894 Schlitz Ad.png

1856-present
In 1849, a German immigrant named August Krug began brewing beer in the basement of his restaurant in Milwaukee; the next year, he would hire a 20-year-old German immigrant named Joseph Schlitz as a bookkeeper. In 1856, Krug passed…
bottle-design2.rendition.584.326.jpg

1901-1932
A figure from the 1915 patent for a new design for the Coca-Cola bottle, created by the Root Glass Company. Established by Chapman J. Root in 1901, the Root Glass Company is best known for manufacturing bottles for Coca-Cola, beginning in…
Listerine Ad 1.jpg

1895-present
First introduced to the market in 1895 and marketed exclusively to dentists, Listerine quickly became a household name and became one of the first medical products offered over the counter in 1914. These two ads from 1917 advocate…
Katharmon Ad.png

An advertisement for Katharmon Chemical Company, boasting Kathermon's uses as an antiseptic, prophylactic, and detergent.
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Streator Ad.png

A 1903 advertisement for the Streator bottle and glass Company in Streator, Illinois, boasting their wine and liquor bottles would not break in shipment (as their competitors’ bottles would).
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Workers at Illinois Glass Co. Plant 1910.jpg

A 1910 photograph originally titled "Noon hour. Illinois Glass Co., (Shop #7.) These boys all work in above glass company. Tuesday noon. Location: Alton, Illinois," taken by Lewis Wickes Hine.
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Redlining.png
Modern Wing AIC.jpg

Outside View of the Art Institute Chicago Modern Wing Building at Night
Death in Chicago8-31.1.html
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