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5^r^-*/? Yc "VCILD OlVIOiV -*r v^ fiftOME CHI[Ann ?i. ^ 1673 k ^ .JOLIETAT PRESENT SITE OP CHICACO \C^ Of4or*^Sip|( Ol *s RAILWAY Wens fiCAOJWC Rc&H 1846 CHICAGO^ FIRST DEPOT FORT DEARBORN MASSACRE ' PORTAGE TRAIL y &&& <s o (,K.T.AKM-r^r; Iahhst r o Nc| ! paint ) y. oS^alP TO01S MACH bel t s IHES Si i 3pS*| v. N41546 ^AAtRlSMHSTERDONGs , C. A business--unlike a human--increases in vigor with the years ... By the time a century of existence passes,, it has gained the strength and experience to place it on firm ground so that it can reasonably expect its future to become increasingly secure and the going somewhat easier . . . Probably why they say: 'The First Hundred Years Are the Hardest" . . . Armstrong's reaches its 100th anniversary in 1954 ... It is now round ing out "The Hard Years"--interesting years--full of the romance of a pioneer's life, of the growth of a great city and of the development of an important industry . . . Believing you will find the story intriguing, we are presenting it in intimate detail in serial form. ] Had you been on the jogging two-coach train that early summer day in 1854 as it rattled northward through the state of Ohio, you would have agreed with other passengers that it was clicking along at a mighty reckless speed. It was doing 20 miles an hour! The engineer would have told von that on level ground it could often go 25 and, when everything was working right, even 30 miles an hour. But these faster speeds were too dangerous because the iron straps, which protected the wooden rails from wear, were apt to curl upward and pene trate the lloor of one of the coaches. You of today would have found it a rough trip. The flat on the ground, followed its surface up and down 4io cuts nor fills to smooth out short, steep inclines. But to the people of 1854--previously accustomed only to careening stage coaches bouncing over ungraded roads-- this new kind of travel was delightful, streamlined, luxuri ous comfort, velvet-like smoothness and exciting speed! The train had departed from Cincinnati that morning and as it coursed its way toward its destination at Toledo, it passed many prosperous-looking farms--Ohio had al ready been well-settled by pioneers who had cleared the land and were growing grain and raising cattle. There were many stops. Whenever the tender became low on fuel, a halt was necessary to pick up logs which farmers along the right of way had contracted to cut and pile near the track. The train also paused at every settle ment, regardless of size, and even at rural crossroads where stages made connections. You would have described th coaches as palatial com pared with the best horse-drawn stage. The cars were brightly painted outside and heavily varnished inside. The not-too-comfortable seats were of wood, not upholstered, and extended parallel with the sides the full length of the car. Lamps at either end of the coaches were seldom used because trains operated only in daytime. There were no comfort rooms, no club cars, no parlor cars, no sleepers and no diners. Travelers packed lunches to last for the entire trip, plus a surplus just in case of breakdowns, which y)/HEN E. R. T. ARMSTRONG ARRIVED IN CHICAGO in 1854, a sight similar to this greeted him. The arrival of a train was still a thrilling event. People flocked to the four depots to watch the "choo-choo" come in, usually in the early evening and on Sunday when they had leisure. The noise and commotion of the "Iron Horse" puffing up to the station was an exciting novelty for many. Others were attracted out of curiosity. They wanted to check on the people who got off--wanted to see what the new-comers looked like, especially those arriving to make Chicago their home. <5 'Eleven years after the first lead plant was established, the first varnish plant was opened in Philadelphia in 1815. The first New York varnish plant was started in 1830. The making- of varnishes in those days was a primitive art at Jts best. It was based on the process brought over from uigland, but nevertheless the Americans with their crude methods did produce excellent varnishes from such ma terials as they had--Zanzibar, animi and later, Kauri gum. In those early plants, the varnish maker would make a tank of the material and, while it was aging, would go out and sell it. Then he would return to his plant and ship his product, subsequently cooking up another tankful, which he would sell in the same, easy-going way. No high pressure activity in those days! Many of the carriage painters of the early 1800's were making their own varnishes, even before the first commer cial varnish plant was founded. These men carried their formulas under their hats and were something of an itin erant lot. Whether their "receipts" were alike or varied somewhat isn't definitely known but as a whole they pro duced a pretty good-looking finishing job, so that each of the processes must have possessed some merit. There is still in existence an old copper varnish kettle of the early 1800's. Its capacity is about five gallons. On one side is a socket into- which was fitted a wooden handle. In using it, the kettle was suspended over a wood fire and when, as frequently occurred, the cooking varnish caught fire, the varnish maker would thrust the wooden handle into the socket and run to a river close by to extinguish the flame and save the batch. A very dangerous undertak- |g but nevertheless very necessary. . It was also in the early 1800's that a very important development took place which was later to facilitate the producion of prepared paint and to popularize its use. This concerned Zinc Oxide, which had been first commercially produced in France in the early 19th century, in what sub-! sequently became known as the French process. Some few years later in New Jersey, a man, mistaking; some Franklinite for ordinary sand, made the accidental discovery while patching a furnace that Franklinite could be used for making zinc oxide but it was not until 1855, a year after Armstrong's history starts, that a patent was issued on what is known as the American process. The popularity of zinc oxide as a white pigment grew as : rapidly as the ability to produce it, because it was non-toxic] and possessed other characteristics which made it highly] adaptable in the making of paint. Nevertheless, in 1854 when young E. R. T. Armstrong arrived in Chicago with the avowed purpose of going into ] business, the making of paint was still a matter of hand-] mixing, still a retail business of supplying the user with; raw materials--dry colors, white lead, linseed oil, turpen-j tine, brushes and sandpaper. Carriage painting represented i the high point of the craft. There were some paste paints j available, either white lead in oil or combinations of white ; lead and barytes in oil, after the English pattern. * The first United States census taken in 1850 listed only] four paint manufacturers in the entire country, with aj value placed on their product of $77,000. But ready-to-use paints and enamels were unknown. Young Armstrong brought no knowledge of the paint business to Chicago with him. He really got into it through the side door. He had come to Chicago because he saw in the growing railroad industry great opportunity for a busi ness career. Thus he became a "railroad furnisher" at No., 18 Dearborn street, as the 1854 city directory listed him, and as such, he supplied white lead and oil to the builders] of railroad cars and the operators of the line. A HIGH CLASS PAINT "FACTORY'' IN 1835 SPIRIT OF 1805 WAS NOT ALL IN PAINT POTS --From the Beltman Archive This was considered a very "modern paint factory" in 1835. The only piece of machinery in the place was a small hand grinder on the wall. Practically everything was done man ually. The man with the cart is delivering buckets of material to the painters elsewhere on the job. The whiskey consumed by the painters cost more than the material and labor to paint a bridge in 1805, as seen in the above bill recently found in Pittsburgh. Two grades of spirits were supplied, a 57c quality and a 75c, latter prob ably for the Boss Painter, as a steadying agent. Varnish Works, 1330 So. Kilbourn Ave., Chicago 23. PtldW: ished by The Armstrong Paint & AC KN O WLEDGMENTS Sources of Information on Chicago: Chicago His torical Society; A. T. Andreas' History of Chicago (1885); Frederick Cook's Bygone Days in Chicago (1910); J. Seymour Currey's Chicago, Its History and Builders (1912); H. C. Chatfield-Taylor's Chi cago (1917); Caroline Kirkland's Chicago Yester days (1919); Lloyd Lewis' Chicago, The History of Its Reputation (1929); Edgar Lee Masters' Tale of Chicago (1933); J. A. Fairbanks' The Swifts (1933)1 Commerce magazine (1937)', Herma Clark's The Elegant Eighties (1941); and Philip Kinsley's The Chicago Tribune (1945). Sources of Information on Paint: John Crerar Li brary; George B. Heckel's The Paint Industry (1928); Chicago Public Library's Technology of Paint and Varnish Maying (1929); National Paint, Varnish & Lacquer Association Press Releases (1938-1945); and Chicago Natural History Mu seum. Source of Early History of Armstrong Family: Miss Helen Armstrong. Photographs: Bettman Archive; Chicago Histori cal Society; Chicago Natural History Museum; Chicago Public Library; International News Pho tos, Inc.; Acme News Pictures, Inc.; Museum of Science and Industry; Burt L. Wilson Collection; and Chicago Surface Lines. Illustrations and chapter covers: Wallace Tate and Promotional Arts, Inc. Cartoons: Bob O'Reilly. Engravings: Process Color Plate Co. Typesetting: Logan Square Typesetting Co. Printing: Printing Department of The Armstrong Paint & Varnish Works. Binding: Koehler Binding Co. --M. C. FISHER DATE DUE NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY LIBRARY EVANSTON ILLINOIS 4jV ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ "THE HRD YEARS" was pub lished in eight sections, each as a supplement to our company monthly magazine,"The Paint Pot," from Sep tember 1946 to May 1947. A few ex tra copies have been bound for pres entation to pioneer Chicago firms * which were established prior to or during the 1850's. ARMSTRONG PAINT & VARNISH WORKS V mA /- 33cf/ 7'& /j-793 V CHICAGO, "the rising star of the west, which had for its leaders the younger stocky of New England heritage--thinkers and builders of the American dream moving westward "