National Watch Company, Elgin National Watch Company, Elgin, Illinois. (1864-1968)

The company was first incorporated in August 1864 as the National Watch Company in Chicago, Illinois. The founders of this company were Philo Carpenter, Chicago's first pharmacist and drug store owner, Howard Z. Culver, then-Chicago mayor Benjamin W. Raymond, George M. Wheeler, Thomas S. Dickerson, Edward H. Williams and W. Robbins. 

In September of the same year, the founders visited the Waltham Watch Company in Waltham, Massachusetts. They convinced seven of Waltham's makers to work for their new company.

The growing young city of Elgin, Illinois, some 30 miles northwest of Chicago, was chosen as the factory site. Initially, the city was asked to donate 35 acres of land to construct the factory as part of the deal. A derelict farm was selected for this. However, the owners refused to sell the property unless the city purchased their 71 acres for $3,550 ($66,000 in 2023). Four Elgin businessmen agreed to buy the property and donated the required 35 acres to the new watch company. A temporary factory constructed the machines needed to make watch parts. 

The company was reorganized in April 1865.

The factory was completed in 1866. It was steam-powered and built close to the river for the water source. The enormous boilers generated enough steam to run the engines required for powering the factory, resulting in a tall and massive chimney.

The first movement, completed in April 1867, was named the B.W. Raymond in honor of Benjamin W. Raymond, the company's president. The watch was an 18-size, 15-jewel, key wind and set, full plate design (later assigned grade 69). 

In 1867 some of the B.W. Raymond grade 15-jewels movements were built with Pennsylvania Rail Road on the dial for service on the Pennsylvania Rail Road.

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In 1869, the National Watch Company won "Best Watches, Illinois Manufacture" at the 17th Annual Illinois State Fair, for which it won a silver medal. 

By 1870 the plant was turning out 25,000 watches each year and employed nearly 300 men and 200 women. During the early part of the 1870s, the factory was enlarged. By late 1873 the product line included at least 14 different grades, and production was estimated at 100,000 movements per year.

The National Watch Company, like the American Waltham Watch Company, relied on jewelry wholesalers to distribute the movements it produced. Elgin did not make watch cases. Retail customers would pick out a watch movement and a watch case, and a jeweler would fit them together. Elgin employed representatives to help sell the product to wholesalers and ran advertisements in magazines and newspapers to purchase their movements through local jewelry stores.

They produced the Elgin Almanac from 1871 to 1876 to help advertise watches.

Elgin National BW Raymond, Model 8, Grade 240, mfg 1909.

The company officially changed its name to the Elgin National Watch Company in May 1874 because "Elgin" became a synonym for their watches. 

During the mid-1870, the company developed a lower-priced line of watches. Elgin became best known for producing the "working man's" mid-grade watches. They produced several high-grade watches.

Special pocket watches were offered for railroad use. Models included the 23 Jewel "Veritas," the "BW Raymond," and the famous "Father Time" clock, facing the river on the Jewelers Building at 35 East Wacker Drive, Chicago.

Weighing an estimated six tons, the clock was donated to the building by one of its first major tenants, the Elgin National Watch Company. The lantern points towards the Chicago river. It still runs.

Elgin National Watch Company shipped its first wristwatch in 1910.

Antique 1912 Elgin Victorian
Limited Edition Men's 10k GF
Art Deco Style

In 1960 Elgin introduced the first American-made wristwatch to be qualified for railroad service, the grade 730A, also named B.W. Raymond.

During World War II, all civilian manufacturing was halted. The company moved into the defense industry, manufacturing military watches, chronometers, fuses for artillery shells, aircraft instruments and sapphire bearings used for aiming cannons.

Starting from Scratch, piece by piece by hand, they complete a pocket watch.

Over time additional plants were operated in Elgin, Aurora, Illinois and Lincoln, Nebraska. The original factory in Elgin closed in 1964 after having produced half of the total number of pocket watches manufactured in the United States (dollar-type not included). 

In 1964 the company relocated most manufacturing operations to a brand new plant in Blaney, South Carolina, which renamed itself Elgin, South Carolina. 

The factories shut down in 1968. The copyright to the name "Elgin" was also sold in 1968.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

Macoupin County Courthouse, in Carlinville, Illinois. (1870-In Use)

The first courthouse was built of logs on the property. Now City Square and Seth Hodges won the contract for the structure. The record shows that construction costs totaled $128.66.

Ten years later, the county had outgrown this 18' x 24' log structure and planned a larger one on the same site. The new brick building measured 50' x 50' and - costing roughly $15,000 - was considerably more expensive than the first. The contractors were Harbird Weatherford and Jefferson Weatherford.

Abraham Lincoln frequently represented his clients in this courthouse. In fact, when the State Preservation Agency examined the Courthouse records in the 1990s, they found over 3,000 documents with the signature of A. Lincoln. Those original documents are now in Springfield, but copies are on file in the Macoupin County Courthouse.

The courthouse that Lincoln practiced in no longer stands in the center of town because shortly after the end of the Civil War in 1867, elected officials decided that the prosperous county needed an even larger structure.

Four prominent citizens were commissioned to erect a new courthouse: A McKim Dubois, George H. Holliday, T.L. Loomis and Isham J. Peebles. They selected E.E. Meyers as the architect and determined that the construction not begin until there were sufficient funds in the county treasury.

The court also ordered that a property tax of 50¢ per $100 is assessed in Macoupin County and that the monies be used for county purposes, i.e., a new courthouse.

Bonds totaling $50,000 were issued for ten-year terms and bore interest at 10%. Over $13,000 had been spent by September, and the cornerstone was set in place in October. The cost escalated dramatically from then on. By January 1869, nearly $500,000 had been paid, and the building was still incomplete. The great dome and roof would cost an additional $125,115. More bonds were issued, and by the time the courthouse was officially completed in 1870, the project had cost a staggering $1,342,000. Thus evolved the nickname, the "Million Dollar Courthouse."

The courthouse was an exorbitant expense to the taxpayers, and rumors of a scandal involving misused appropriations also tarnished the project. Initially, the blame was laid on Judge Thaddeus Loomis, and George H. Holliday, county clerk, and Judge Loomis were apparently innocent of any wrongdoing. However, we may never know the truth about Mr. Holliday because one night in 1870, he boarded a train out of town and simply disappeared.

Upon completion, this courthouse became the largest county courthouse in the United States, with the possible exception of one in New York City. It was even larger than the Illinois Statehouse. While the courthouse still serves as the seat of county government, it has also become a showplace that attracts tourists, architects and artists from across the country and overseas.

Despite the scandal and the expense, citizens supported this project with amazing dedication. In 1910, a mere 40 years after the cornerstone had been set in place, the last bond was burned, and the debt retired. To mark the occasion, 20,000 people gathered in Carlinville for a memorable two-day celebration on July 20 and 21. At a pre-determined hour, all mine whistles, church bells, alarms and anything else that could make a loud noise raised quite a ruckus. However, the noise wasn't limited to one mighty blast because history records that athletic contests, balloon rides and even airplane rides gave the citizens plenty to cheer about. A parade of cars stretched over a mile also entertained the crowds. That seems like a minor event today, but it was impressive at a time when so few people owned cars.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

Dandy Inn Irish Pub & Restaurant, O'Fallon, Illinois. (1850-2017)

Dandy Inn, built initially as Becherer's Tavern in 1850, has been a general store, a tavern, a dance hall, and always as it still is today, a popular gathering place. It has been said that Abraham Lincoln was one of the early visitors.

Beginning as a one-room log cabin located on U.S. 50 (the Vincennes Trail), the tavern offered travelers food, water, and supplies. The well, located in the front, fed a horse trough and provided a water supply for the business. Initially, the building was primarily a one-story structure. The business grew, and additions encompassed the original one-room tavern.

Near the turn of the century, Henry Becherer's son, Adam, took over the tavern. During that time, a building was constructed on the highway's edge and used as a dance hall.

The early 1900s boasted an expanding clientele when coal mining became a big business in the area. The miners enjoyed congregating at the tavern when work was finished. The prospering mines created a rail industry to carry the ore to distribution points. The railroad workers, needing a place to quench their thirst and get a sandwich, frequented Becherer's tavern.

Workers, deciding that the area would be an excellent place to build a house and raise a family, created a community with life interwoven at Becherer's Tavern. Visitors kept increasing. The railway had a streetcar that carried people from Lebanon, Illinois, to East St. Louis, and the Crossroads Station was on Old Collinsville Road. More and more people were traveling by automobiles, and Becherer's had one of the first gas pumps in the area.

Dances were held in the pasture – admission 10¢. Some guys would jump over the fence to avoid paying the cover charge. This was bootleg time – so root beer was the main fare. But remember, anything was available at Becherer's. If you wanted bootleg whiskey, you simply told Adam. The place had a somewhat protected status. Near the end of prohibition in 1932, when Roosevelt indicated a repeal of prohibition if elected, Adam began building a new building to accommodate the future beer drinkers. The farmers liked coming to Becherer's.

The present two-story tavern structure was built in 1933 and opened on New Year's Day, 1934, and beer was legal. It was a magnificent building with few like it outside the cities. It provided the owner's family a store, tavern, and living quarters, and the business prospered. 

Adam Jr., Orville and Kate Roach, and Adam's children began running the place when their father entered the service in 1941.

By 1960, the clientele had changed again. It wasn't a community center anymore, and the dances long since had ceased. The towns had grown, and people were more interested in O'Fallon or Fairview Heights social gatherings. By then, Becherer's was a neighborhood tavern and store.

It was an excellent spot for the residents of the surrounding subdivisions to stop on their way home from work or to visit for a late-evening beer. Those were the folks most affected when they decided to close. Until they decided to retire on New Year's Eve 1976, the place had changed little. The beer was cold, and the sandwiches were made fresh at the grocery counter in the next room. The customers, a blend of newcomers and crusty old-timers, made a visit an exciting experience. The neighbors waited four months before the Daniels bought the corner and opened their place.

On April Fool's Day, 1977, Dave and Phyllis Daniels officially opened the Dandy Inn. Two of their children, Mark and Ann, were put to work and are still connected to the place today. Phyllis is now retired but loves to come in for lunch with friends. Mark is in from early morning to late night most days of the week, usually fixing something or chatting with customers. Ann has since retired from the restaurant business. She stays busy raising her kids and running The Scrapbook Factory down the street. 

Every year on St. Patrick's Day, Ann is pulled from retirement to help at the Dandy Inn during one of the busiest times of the year. Dandy Inn Irish Pub boiled their own beef briskets, making the best corned beef in Southern Illinois.

Continuing the family business, Mark's son, Casey, works in the kitchen after school. Most people think he also has the restaurant business in his blood, but who knows what the future will bring. After over three decades in business, the Dandy Inn has seen many changes but still has something for everyone; a great gathering place for families, a well-worn bar for an after-work beer, and always delicious, home-style family recipes.

My personal favorite restaurant in St. Clair County for fresh hand-breaded cod or perch (both on the menu) and a mound of freshly cut fries. The outdoor covered seating was comfortable too.

Dandy Inn permanently closed its doors on Sunday, January 15, 2017.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

Illinois' Fourth (4th) Statehouse, Vandalia, Illinois.

The fourth Illinois statehouse in Vandalia served as the State capitol from 1836 until 1839 and is the oldest surviving capitol building in the state. The first (1818-1820) was at Kaskaskia, the state’s first capital. The second (1820-1823), third (1824-1836), and fourth (1836-1839) were all in Vandalia. The fifth (1839-1876) is in Springfield and is preserved as the Old State Capitol State Historic Site. The sixth is the current capital (1876-present) in Springfield.

As a historian, I was escorted into the roped-off and closed rooms to take pictures on October 9, 2013. The volunteer had a wealth of knowledge and joined my Facebook group after I finished the photoshoot. 

The Vandalia Statehouse is significant for its association with Abraham Lincoln, who served in the House of Representatives. In 1974 the Statehouse was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Statehouse is located in the center of a city block in downtown Vandalia, a two-story painted brick structure. Porticoes on the north and south sides of the “restored” building reproduce those added in the 1850s. 

The first floor contains a large entry hall and rooms representing the offices of the Auditor, Treasurer, and Secretary of State, as well as the Supreme Court chamber. The second floor comprises a central hall and recreated House and Senate chambers, each containing a visitor gallery reached by staircases. 

The visitors’ Gallery is off-limits due to the fire code stating there must be two exits; the Gallery has only one.

The square on which the building is located is handsomely landscaped, with many trees. A large statue, the “Madonna of the Trail,” donated by the Daughters of the American Revolution and dedicated in 1928, is located on the southwest corner. It commemorates Vandalia as the official terminus of the historic National Road.

Visitors are offered free guided tours through the building or can view the historically furnished rooms independently from the roped-off open doorways. Informational signs describing each room are located in the hall, but nobody is permitted into the rooms. A small exhibit in the first-floor hall outlines Abraham Lincoln’s connection with the Statehouse. 

An accessible restroom was built on the northwest corner of the Statehouse grounds. 

A Brief History of Illinois State Capitol Buildings from 1818 to the Present.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

Chinatown History, Chicago, Illinois.

Looking to escape the anti-Chinese violence that had broken out on the west coast, the first Chinese arrived in Chicago after 1869 when the First Transcontinental Railroad was completed. By the late 1800s, 25% of Chicago's approximately 600 Chinese residents settled along Clark Street between Van Buren and Harrison Avenues in Chicago's Loop. 

In 1889, 16 Chinese-owned businesses were located along the two-block stretch, including eight grocery stores, two butcher shops and a restaurant. 

In 1912, the Chinese living in this area began moving south to Armour Square. Some historians say this was due to increasing rent prices. Others see more complex causes: discrimination, overcrowding, a high non-Chinese crime rate, and disagreements between the two associations ("Tōngs") within the community, the Hip Sing Tōng and the On Leong Tōng.

Guey Sam Restaurant.

The move to the new South Side Chinatown was led by the On Leong Merchants Association in 1912, which had a building constructed along Cermak Road (then 22nd Street) that could house 15 stores, 30 apartments and the Association's headquarters. While the building's design was typical of the period, it also featured Chinese accents, such as tile trim adorned with dragons.

In the 1920s, Chinese community leaders secured approximately 50 ten-year leases on properties in the newly developing Chinatown. Because of severe racial discrimination, these leases must be secured via an intermediary, H.O. Stone Company. Jim Moy, then-director of the On Leong Merchants Association, decided that a Chinese-style building should be constructed as a strong visual announcement of the Chinese community's new presence in the area. 

With no Chinese-born architects in Chicago then, Chicago-born Norse architects Christian S. Michaelsen and Sigurd A. Rognstad were asked to design the new On Leong Merchants Association Building in the spring of 1926. Michaelsen and Rognstad drew their final design after studying texts on Chinese architecture. When the building opened in 1928 at the cost of a million dollars, it was the finest large Chinese-style structure in any North American Chinatown. 

The On Leong Association allowed the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association to put its headquarters in the new building and use it as an immigrant assistance center, a school, a shrine, a meeting hall, and office space for the Association itself. It was often informally referred to as Chinatown's "city hall." 

In 1928, Michaelsen and Rognstad designed two other buildings in the area—Won Kow Restaurant, Chinatown's oldest restaurant, and the Moy Shee D.K. Association Building, the former receiving a two-story addition in 1932.

Guey Sam's Chinese Restaurant, on Wentworth Avenue in Chicago's Chinatown, is shown in 1928 during a celebration of the anniversary of the Republic of China. Chop Suey palaces like Guey Sam were targeted for closing earlier in the 1900s. 

The Chinatown Gate was built in 1975 at the intersection of Wentworth Avenue and Cermak Road. It is the entrance to Chinatown's oldest and most compact section. The colorful gate is known for the ornamental street lamps and Chinese dragon carvings on the sidewalks. A Chinese inscription on the gate declares, "The world is for all."

During the late 1980s, a group of Chinatown business leaders bought 32 acres of property north of Archer Avenue from the Santa Fe Railway and built Chinatown Square, a two-level mall consisting of restaurants, beauty salons and law offices flanked by 21 new townhouses. 

Additional residential construction, such as the Santa Fe Gardens, a 600-unit village of townhouses, condominiums and single-family homes still under construction on formerly industrial land to the north.

VISIT OUR CHICAGO CHINATOWN SOUVENIR SHOP

Why Chinese Restaurants Nearly Became Extinct in Chicago.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

The History of Grafton, Illinois, with Personal Photos of my day trip on October 18, 2013.

James Mason was born in Grafton, Massachusetts, in July 1783. He was engaged in trade in the West Indies and worked in New York City as a partner in the wholesale grocery business. He came west, settling in Edwardsville, Illinois, where he invested in real estate.

In August 1818, he married Sarah Von Phul, the sister of a prominent St. Louis businessman. James Mason was licensed to operate a ferry across the Mississippi River at Grafton in 1833. He and his friend, Dr. Silas Hamilton and leading St. Louis businessmen envisioned a town where Grafton is now. In 1833, Mason and his partners were incorporated as the "Grafton Manufacturing Company" to establish grist, woolen, and cotton mills and to do general manufacturing, trading and shipping. Mason and Hamilton died in 1834 before their plans became a reality.

On April 15, 1836, James Mason's Brother Paris, and James Mason's widow, Mrs. Sarah Mason, assumed responsibility for surveying, platting and selling lots and incorporating the town. Mrs. Mason named the settlement Grafton in honor of her husband's birthplace. Paris Mason took charge of the Mason enterprises in Grafton until 1840, James and Sarah Mason's daughter married William H. Allen, and he eventually took over and expanded Mason's interests. His activities included mercantile, produce, flour mills and banking. Allen participated in the Illinois Constitutional Convention in 1860 and served as 6th district State Senator in 1871.

According to the Jersey County Democrat, on February 1, 1867, Grafton's business community was comprised of 5 general stores, 2 blacksmith shops, 1 drugstore, 1 wagon shop, 1 butcher shop, 2 shoe shops, 1 harness maker, 1 tin shop, 2 flour/grist mills, 1 watchmaker and silversmith, 1 mill for sawing rock, 3 cooper shops, 2 physicians, but no Hotels.

GODFREY BUILDING - This Greek revival building was erected by Jacob Godfrey in the 1840s of local limestone as a general store. Godfrey was a tailor by trade. He also served as Constable for several terms. In 1858, Godfrey partnered with Henry Eastman to build another general store that served the community with at least 3 other general stores. The Godfrey building was mostly used as a general store but served as the town’s post office for some time.

MASONIC LODGE - The Grafton Stone and Transportation Company built this limestone building with locally quarried stone in 1869. All of the doors latches, hinges, door lintels, desk fixtures, wall sconces, lamp stands and the massive chandeliers were hammered by hand at a forge on the site. The upper story contained “Armory Hall,” a 30’ x 70’ hall used for public purposes. In 1885, the building was purchased by the Grafton Full Moon Masonic Lodge #341. Masonic activities have been held at the site since that time.

BANK - James M. Allen and his son-in-law Edmund A. Pinero established the first bank in Grafton in 1871. They served us as directors with Christopher P. Stafford and Ernst Meysenburg. The bank operated as a private concern until 1873. The door to the vault of their bank can be viewed at the Visitors Center. This building was constructed in 1913 as a bank after the original building that housed a drug store burned. The building constructed by Mr. Meysenburg was considered “fire and burglar proof and modern in every respect.” The building served as Grafton’s Post Office until the mid-1960s.

RUEBEL HOTEL - Michael Ruebel was born in Bavaria in 1834 and came to Grafton in 1863 after serving four months in the army during the Civil War. He worked three years at the cooper’s trade, and then moved to saloon keeping and eventually added the hotel business. In 1884, Ruebel began construction on a three-story brick building with a stone foundation that became the Ruebel Hotel.

It was estimated to cost $7,000 and was the largest hotel in Jersey County. The hotel had 32 rooms and also included a parlor, office, billiard room, store and dining room as well as a large kitchen. The Ruebel family remained in the hotel business for many years. An 1895 advertisement offered a Fourth of July stay for $1.00 to $1.50 in a hotel with all the “Latest Modern Improvements.”

The hotel was destroyed by fire in 1912 and the present structure was built to replace it. The burled walnut bar in the hotel was originally part of the Bavarian Exhibit at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis and was transported to Grafton by steamboat. The bar was saved when numerous patrons and citizens carried it out of the building during floods. The Hotel has changed hands several times. For many years Charles Amburg, descendent of Michael Ruebel operated it.

COUNTRY CORNER

LA MARSH HOUSE OF BEDS AND BLUES

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

Soulsby Shell Service Station, Mount Olive, Illinois, on Route 66.

The advent of the national road system in 1926 ushered in a golden age for mom-and-pop entrepreneurs. For Henry Soulsby of Mount Olive, it happened just in time. Mr. Soulsby followed his Irish immigrant father into mining, but in the mid-1920s, an injury forced him above ground. Understanding that a national highway would soon pass through Mount Olive, he invested most of his life savings in two lots at the corner of 1st Street, now called Old Route 66. With the balance, he built an automotive service station.

The Soulsby Station is an excellent example of a house with a canopy form. By the time Mr. Soulsby built his station in 1926, the leading oil companies had been hiring architects to design stations that would blend well with neighborhoods to minimize local opposition to the crudeness often associated with gas stations. Mr. Soulsby designed the building himself, considering these trends and blending well with the surrounding area.

Although the Great Depression soon began, the station thrived. America was broke, but it was still traveling. As Will Rogers would say, "We might be the first nation to drive to the poorhouse in an automobile."

When Henry Soulsby retired, his children Russell and Ola Soulsby took over the station, a partnership that would endure until Ola died in 1996. Each was as adept as the other at pumping gas, checking the oil, and looking under the hood or chassis to detect and fix problems. Russell always had an eye for technology. During World War II, he was a communications technician in the Pacific theater. He turned his experience into a radio and television repair business shortly after coming home. He used the antenna on the station's roof to test his work.

Route 66 was a great agent of progress and development, but its success helped spell its doom. In the late 1950s, Interstate 55 began supplanting it in Illinois, and the Soulsby Station ended up a mile from the new thoroughfare in Mount Olive. In 1991, the Soulsby Station stopped pumping gas but continued to check oil, sell soda pop ("pop" in northern Illinois), and greet the ever-growing legion of Route 66 tourists. Sending everyone off with a wink and a wave, Russell and Ola closed the doors for good in 1993 and sold the station in 1997 to a neighbor, Mike Dragovich. When Russell Soulsby died in 1999, his funeral procession took him under the canopy one last time; this time, it was his friends' turn to wink and wave.

The current owner, Mr. Dragovich, and the Soulsby Preservation Society began preservation efforts in 2003, removing vinyl siding, restoring the original doors and windows, and repainting the exterior. In 2004, the National Park Service provided grant support for restoration efforts. Today, the station looks essentially the same as it did during its post-World War II heyday. It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.

People worldwide drive by to imagine what Old Route 66 would have been like in its heyday.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

Photos Copyright © 2014, Neil Gale.