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RE: [BRHSlist] Unique locations

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Subject: RE: [BRHSlist] Unique locations
From: "Ed Carroll" <ed.carroll@h...>
Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2001 15:05:11 -0500
Iron and stell fabrication west of Chicago was an extension of the steel and 
iron industry in the greater Chicago area. The big jumps for this industry in 
the mid nineteenth century was the fabrication first of nails and then barbed 
wire in DeKalb, Sterling and Batavia. The expansion of the machine tool and 
instrument making firms throughout the Fox River Valley dated from the birth of 
the telegraph instrument making firms, all generally financed by lawyers and 
bankers (some from Ottawa, most from Chicago) and the moving into the area of 
businessmen and skilled instrument makers from New England and Germany (The 
Elgin National Watch and Clock Company). One of the big names in the Batavia 
area was the Aero-motor company that pioneered thesteel frames for agricultural 
windmills (and whose successor firm headquartered in Arkansas builds most of 
the frames for cellular phone towers). Once one firm got started, the business 
community including bankers felt comfortable with that type of firm and 
understood the operations enough to haveconfidence in making the necessary 
building funds and operating loans available. The best books on steel and iron 
are older books on coal, iron and steel in Illinois, mostly published in the 
1920s and available through university or college libraries. 

The number of stockyards and cattle and pig operations along both the CB&Q and 
the CRI&P made the area from Plano west into Iowa big in the agricultural 
production of hogs and steers. By 1890 northern Illinois agriculture was almost 
entirely a corn and feed lot economy, with dairies along the closein lines to 
Chicago. Still the best book on Illinois Ag history is Alan Bogue's From 
Prairie to Cornbelt.  

>>> mmatalis@s... 04/13/01 08:26PM >>>
While this doesn't apply to all situations, in many cases you have a
situation of a people working at a successful industry basically saying
"Hey, I can do this myself!" and setting up shop in the very same town, and
they in turn begat others.

Mike Matalis
Downers Grove, IL
mmatalis@s... 

-----Original Message-----
From: qutlx1@a... [mailto:qutlx1@a...] 
Sent: Thursday, April 12, 2001 9:49 PM
To: brhslist@yahoogroups.com 
Subject: [BRHSlist] Unique locations


The discussion of Mendota shippers raises another question. What was unique
about Mendota that there were/are so many feed shippers? Fasco
Feeds,FS,Swift,Continental all are reported to be feed mixers/mfgs.So what
is
special about Mendota to attract that industry in such volume?
For that matter why did Aurora have so many office furniture,shelving and
locker mfgs? Lyon Metal,All Steel,Aurora Steel Products,etc,etc? Or how
about
bearing mfgs? Aurora Bearings,Berry Bearing,Stephenson Adamson,etc,etc? Or
earth moving equip mfgs,Barber Green,Cat,Austin Western?
Leo


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