Category Archives: Business

Illinois Watch Co.

Posted on April 15, 2013 by editor

For a half-century, Springfield’s Illinois Watch Company was a nationally respected maker of timepieces. At its peak, between 1900 and 1928, Illinois Watch employed 1,300 workers, turned out 800 watches a day and was one of Sangamon County’s largest employers. The … Continue reading →

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Park Sherman Company

Posted on April 15, 2013 by editor

The Park Sherman Company operated in Springfield from the early 1930s, when founder Jacob Sherman bought a plant formerly operated by the Springfield-based Shanklin Manufacturing Co.,  until 1960. Shanklin Manufacturing, 2725 S. 11th St., founded by George Shanklin, marketed an … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Coal mines and mining, Industry | Tagged , | 64 Comments

Baker Manufacturing Co.

Posted on April 8, 2013 by editor

The Baker Manufacturing Company, founded in Springfield in 1908, was a predecessor of Springfield’s Allis-Chalmers (later Fiatallis) construction equipment plant. Baker Manufacturing produced a wide range of road construction and maintenance products, in its later years specializing in crawler tractor … Continue reading →

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Buffalo

Posted on April 7, 2013 by editor

Buffalo, founded as a station on the Wabash Railroad, was platted in 1854  and incorporated as a village in 1872. Entrepreneur Josiah Green built the first house in what later became Buffalo in 1848; it was used as a boarding … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Communities, Railroads, Transportation | 1 Comment

Albert Ide and the Ideal Engine

Posted on April 5, 2013 by editor

Inventor and businessman Albert L. Ide (1841-1897) won international fame as the creator of the Ideal steam engine, which was used in early electric generation systems around the turn of the 20th century. Born in Ohio in 1841, Ide arrived in … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Industry, Prominent figures | 16 Comments

John L. Lewis

Posted on March 26, 2013 by editor

For 40 years the head of the biggest coal miners union in the U.S. in an era when the country depended almost entirely on coal for its energy needs, John Llewellyn Lewis (1880-1969) was a household name from the 1920s … Continue reading →

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Aetna Foundry and Machine Shops

Posted on March 18, 2013 by editor

The Aetna Foundry and Machine Shops, established in 1848 by a partnership named Lowry, Lamb & Co., operated for most of its existence at the southwest corner of Second and Adams streets in Springfield. John C. Lamb became sole owner in 1855. … Continue reading →

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