The Oscar Mayer Enterprise was founded in Chicago, Illinois, in 1883.

Oscar Ferdinand Mayer was the founder of the Oscar Mayer meat products company. Mayer was born in Bavaria on March 29, 1859, and emigrated to Detroit, Michigan in 1873 at the age of 14 to work as a butcher's apprentice.

      

                           Founder                          Son                      Grandson

Mayer moved to Chicago in 1876 when he was 17 to work for Kohlhammer's Market and then worked six years for the Philip Armour & Company meatpackers at the Chicago Union Stock Yards. By 1883, his brother Gottfried Mayer had moved to Chicago from Nurnberg, Germany, where he had established himself as a "wurstmacher" or sausage-maker and ham curer. 

Oscar Mayer had saved enough money to lease a failing business, the Kolling Meat Market at 1241 North Sedgwick Street, in a German neighborhood on the near north side and leased the building from the former owner.

From their first week in operation, the business was very popular due to Gottfried's skill in producing the products that Germans in Chicago loved, reminding them of the quality sausages from back home. Within a year, the shop was turning a profit. Five years later, its continuing success prompted the envious former owner of Kolling's to refuse to renew the Mayers' lease on the building in 1888. Instead, he announced that he would resume control of the firm himself. But without the Mayer brothers, his store failed in a year.

What he had not counted on, however, was Oscar Mayer's determination. Having worked very hard to establish his business, the young entrepreneur was not about to let anyone take it away without a fight. Mayer borrowed $10,000 and purchased a piece of property only two blocks away, close enough to continue serving his faithful clientele. He then built his own building and set up shop again in 1888.

The building and shop Oscar F. Mayer built. The exact location is unknown.

A third Mayer brother, Max, came over from Germany about 1888 to join the company as a bookkeeper when they built a new two-story building two blocks from the first location and lived in apartments over the store.

Mayer products were very popular with Chicago's growing German-American immigrant community in the 1890s. They sold "Old World" sausages, Westphalian hams, bockwurst, liverwurst, bacon, and wieners─later called hot dogs by Americans, not of German heritage.

The company was first called Oscar Mayer and Brother and then Oscar Mayer & Company. In 1893, they were sponsors of the German display at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. They also sponsored German polka bands. The German market in Chicago was important. According to the census of 1900, one in four residents of Chicago, about 470,000 people, were either born in Germany or had at least one parent who was born there. The next largest immigrant group was the Irish, and they also liked the Mayer products.

At the start of the twentieth century, Oscar Mayer had a workforce of 43 people, including eight wagon drivers who made deliveries to 280 stores all over Chicago and its suburbs, as well as in Wisconsin. The standard practice for meat sellers in 1904 was to rely on salespeople and remain anonymous as to the packer or retailer. The idea of retail brand names in food and consumer advertising was still fairly new in the early 1900s. As in the case of Charles R. Walgreen, who started branding his drug stores 100 years ago, Oscar Mayer put his brand name on retail meat products in 1904.

The Mayers were very concerned with quality control. In 1906, they became one of the first companies to volunteer to participate in a new federal meat inspection program to certify the purity and quality of products. Naturally, the company advertised that they were government-inspected as a distinctive selling point. Just after World War I, Oscar Mayer & Company made its first large expansion with the purchase of a processing plant in Madison, Wisconsin.

In 1909, Oscar's only son, Oscar Gottfried Mayer, graduated from Harvard University and joined the family business. One year at a time, Mayer launched many innovations to set his brand name apart from the competition. By 1912, a Ford Model T motorcar had replaced the horse-drawn wagon on one of the company's 20 sales routes.

By 1917, sales at Oscar Mayer had grown to $11 million. About a third of that total represented government purchases for troops fighting in World War I. That same year, the Edelweiss brand name was discontinued and replaced by Oscar Mayer's "Approved Meat Products," which the company used in its newspaper display ads.

In 1924, Mayer introduced sliced bacon in a special "see-through" plastic packaging that was patented. In 1928, Oscar F. Mayer became Chairman of the Board, and his son Oscar G. Mayer was made president. 

In 1929, the company introduced "yellow band weiners." A yellow paper band was a great gimmick because most hot dogs at that time were sold in bulk with no packaging other than a display box. Mayer employees applied individual yellow paper bands, by hand, on every fourth hot dog produced that carried the company name and the U.S. government inspection stamp.

Oscar F. Mayer was interested in politics but was usually too busy running his own business to take too much time for campaigns. He was an Illinois delegate to the Democratic National Conventions of 1920 and 1928.

Oscar Mayer delivery truck parked outside an Oscar Mayer & Co. building in Chicago. The truck is an International Harvester AW-2. (1931)

In addition to his business interests, Oscar Mayer served for many years as treasurer of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, Illinois, which was responsible for acquiring and maintaining natural wooded areas for recreational uses.

His son Oscar G. Mayer was born in Chicago in 1888 and lived in Evanston. Oscar G. Mayer also was elected as a trustee of the University of Illinois from 1935 to 1941.

In 1936, Oscar F. Mayer came up with another classic advertising gimmick at the suggestion of his nephew. It was a custom-made vehicle that looked like a giant wiener on a truck body with wheels, and it was and is today called the Wienermobile. It became a rolling billboard for Oscar Mayer to be driven in parades and around Chicago and its suburbs.

In 1969, new Wienermobiles were built on a Chevrolet motor home chassis and featured Ford Thunderbird taillights. It was the first Wienermobile to travel to foreign countries. In 1976, Plastic Products, Inc. built a fiberglass and styrofoam model, again on a Chevrolet motor home chassis. In 1988, Oscar Mayer launched its Hotdogger program, where recent college graduates were hired to drive the Wienermobile through various parts of the nation and abroad. Using a converted Chevrolet van chassis, Stevens Automotive Corporation and noted industrial designer Brooks Stevens built a fleet of six Wienermobiles for the new team of Hotdoggers.

With the 1995 version, the Wienermobile grew in size to 27 feet long and 11 feet high. The 2004 version of the Wienermobile includes a voice-activated GPS navigation device, an audio center with a wireless microphone, a horn that plays the Wiener Jingle in 21 different genres from Cajun to Rap to Bossa Nova, and sports fourth-generation Pontiac Firebird taillights.

In 1969, new Wienermobiles were built on a Chevrolet motor home chassis and featured Ford Thunderbird taillights. It was the first Wienermobile to travel to foreign countries. In 1976, Plastic Products, Inc. built a fiberglass and styrofoam model, again on a Chevrolet motor home chassis. In 1988, Oscar Mayer launched its Hotdogger program, where recent college graduates were hired to drive the Wienermobile through various parts of the nation and abroad. Using a converted Chevrolet van chassis, Stevens Automotive Corporation and noted industrial designer Brooks Stevens built a fleet of six Wienermobiles for the new team of Hotdoggers.

With the 1995 version, the Wienermobile grew in size to 27 feet long and 11 feet high. The 2004 version of the Wienermobile includes a voice-activated GPS navigation device, an audio center with a wireless microphone, a horn that plays the Wiener Jingle in 21 different genres from Cajun to Rap to Bossa Nova, and sports fourth-generation Pontiac Firebird taillights.

A 2008 Prototype Mini Cooper S Hatchback "Cocktail" Wienermobile.

Due to TV commercials over more than fifty years that featured the vehicle, the Weinermobile is one of the most recognized custom vehicles in the country and an icon of American pop culture. It has been worth millions of dollars in brand name awareness advertising to the company, far in excess of its cost to operate and maintain.

For about 36 years between 1940 and 1976, a little person dressed as a chef by the name of "Little Oscar" was the goodwill ambassador for the company who traveled with the Wienermobile.

He was played by George Molchan, who had auditioned on the recommendation of one of his friends who played a "Munchkin" in the 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz.

Vintage Wiener Whistle, prior to the Wienermobile Whistle.

George would pass out plastic "wiener whistles" to kids at each stop the Wienermobile made. In 2005, Mr. Molchan died at age 82 in Merriville, Indiana.

Throughout the rest of the 1940s and into the early 1950s, the company launched a series of technological improvements in the areas of packaging and distribution. The first of these debuted in 1944. Known as the Kartridg-Pak, it automatically banded hot dogs together in bunches. Five years later, a tube machine was invented that encased liverwurst in "chub-sized" plastic tubes. The year 1950 marked the development of the Slice-Pak, which vacuum-packed sliced meat in plastic packages. A stripping machine created in 1953 removed the cooking cases from sausages and made possible the sale of skinless links. Oscar Mayer leased the rights to all of these innovations to competing meatpackers, which is one reason the company has consistently been among the most profitable firms in the meat-packing industry.

Oscar F. Mayer died on March 11, 1955, just a few weeks before his 96th birthday. He is buried at Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago.

After his death, his son and grandson remained active with the company, and the corporate headquarters moved from Chicago to Madison, Wisconsin, to be closer to the main plants.

Under both Oscar Gottfried Mayer and his son, Oscar Gustave Mayer, Jr., the company continued to innovate with special vacuum-sealed packaging in the 1950s and other ways to guarantee freshness. In 1971, the Oscar Mayer packaged meats were the first to print "use by" dates on products.

Starting in 1963, Oscar Mayer & Company used a jingle that many generations of children have memorized. "I wish I were an Oscar Mayer Wiener" is the longest continuously used commercial jingle in the history of American advertising.

Oscar Mayer TV Commercial - 1965

Another famous jingle taught children how to spell "baloney" as "bologna" with a first name of O-S-C-A-R and a last name of M-A-Y-E-R.

Oscar Mayer TV Commercial - 1973

Hot Wheels 1st Wienermobile. 

The One-of-a-Kind Wiener Cycle.

In 1981, Oscar Mayer was bought by General Foods Corporation, a company founded in the 1920s by Marjorie Merriweather Post of Springfield, Illinois, and its name was changed to Oscar Mayer Foods Corporation. As an increasingly health-conscious public began to shun fatty meat products containing preservatives, the company countered by introducing a variety of low-fat and low-sodium products. Thus, a large share of the meat that finds its way into America's lunch-boxes still carries the name of Oscar Mayer.

In 1989, Mayer was again merged with the company founded by Chicagoan James L. Kraft, Kraft Foods.

Oscar Mayer’s popular hot dogs were reformulated in May 2017 by removing all artificial preservatives, nitrates, and nitrites. Kraft-Heinz has proclaimed it is the first national hot dog maker to make the switch.

Oscar Mayer Meat Products, Post Cereals, and Kraft Foods all have deep founder and family roots in Illinois with Oscar F. Mayer, Charles W. Post, and James L. Kraft.

Today, there are many things in Illinois named for Oscar F. Mayer, including the Oscar F. Mayer School at 2250 North Clinton in Chicago.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D. 

The German Turnverein "gymnastics" movement in Chicago began in 1852.

Chicago’s Forgotten Turner Halls: Turnverein Vorwaerts
At 2431 West Roosevelt Road in Chicago is Vorwaerts (Vorwärts = 'Forward' in German) Turner Hall, a castle-like structure that stands as one of the few remnants of a former German neighborhood on the Near West Side. There were once dozens of Turner Halls all over Chicago, but Vorwaerts is one of only two that remain in the city. This mysterious looking building is a living artifact of a group that began in Chicago in 1852 and continues the same traditions today.

Vorwaerts Turner Hall at 2431 West Roosevelt Road was given Chicago Landmark status on November 18, 2009.

Birth of a Movement
The Turnverein (German for “gymnastic union”) is a gymnastic movement founded in Germany during the time of Napoleon’s occupation. The founder of the movement, Friedrich Ludwig Jahn, believed that the key to resisting and defeating Napoleon was a physically fit and disciplined fighting force. He served as a commander of a volunteer force that was instrumental in defeating Napoleon’s army. After the war, he continued efforts to increase discipline and physical fitness in the German population. He would later invent fixtures of gymnastics still in use today: the balance beam, the horse, rings, parallel bars, and the horizontal bar.

The Turnverein and Failed Revolution
There were very few German immigrants in Chicago’s early history, until the German revolution of 1848. The liberal and middle classes (including large numbers of Turnverein) fought against the aristocracy for workers’ rights and reduced taxation and censorship. Their attempt was unsuccessful, and the result greatly impacted the demographics of Chicago and the country. The failed revolution led to an influx of educated and skilled immigration to America, particularly the Midwest. The national Turnverein formed in Cincinnati in the same year as the revolution (1848). The first Chicago Turnverein formed a few years later in 1852. Though they embraced their German history with words and song, they were deeply patriotic for their new home in America.

Turnverein helped Abraham Lincoln get elected president. They proudly served in the Union Army in the United States during the Civil War (1861-1865). They also served as bodyguards for Lincoln during his inauguration, and later during his funeral.

Early Rise of Turnverein Vorwaerts
The First Turnverein Vorwaerts Hall and the 1877 Riot

Riot after police raid furniture workers meeting in first Vorwaerts Hall.
August 18, 1877, Harper’s Weekly.

Like many social clubs, the Turnverein formed in local chapters. The Turnverein Vorwaerts (“Forward Turners”) first formed in 1867, and within the same year occupied a building on 12th Street (now Roosevelt). That building no longer stands, but an interior illustration of it was included in the August 18, 1877 issue of Harper’s Weekly. A meeting of furniture workers at the hall erupted into a riot with police after the latter claimed they were provoked. According to the Chicago Historical Society (now Chicago History Museum), this was part of the backdrop of events leading up to the Haymarket Riot:

One eyewitness described the police as “a uniformed mob.” The raid led to a successful lawsuit by the furniture workers’ union that resulted in the condemnation of the police and the affirmation of workers’ right to peaceful assembly. The bad feelings generated by this incident became another cause of the mutual distrust that was part of the backdrop of Haymarket. —Chicago Historical Society

A New Hall for Turnverein Vorwaerts
In the 1880s another wave of German immigrants arrived in Chicago, many the result of an Anti-Socialist Law. This led to a swelling in the ranks of Turners across the city, including the hall on 12th Street. In October 1896, it was announced in the Chicago Daily Tribune that a new building would be constructed for this growing movement. The building’s architect was George L. Pfeiffer, also a member and president of the Turnverein Vorwaerts.

WILL DEDICATE THEIR HALL.Turnverein Vorwaerts Arrange a Program.

The Turnverein Vorwaerts, one of the oldest and strongest German=American organizations in Chicago, will dedicate their new hall Sunday. The gymnasium is at 1164-68 West Twelfth Street, near Western Avenue. The new gymnasium is fitted with the best and most modern apparatus, two bowling alleys, built according to the rules of the American Bowling League, and eight shower baths. All turning organizations in Chicago, as well as singing societies and sither clubs, will take part in the dedication exercises. The exercises will consist of all kinds of gymnastic performances and songs rendered by different singing societies. Hon. Harry Rubens, one of the oldest members of the Turnverein Vorwaerts, will make the dedication speech. Extra streetcars will run on Ogden Avenue, Western Avenue, and Twelfth Street all day, and extra night cars on Twelfth Street in the evening, to accommodate visitors. --January 16, 1897, Chicago Inter Ocean

The Vorwaerts Turner Hall consisted of three buildings in one; two adjacent structures and a gymnasium in the rear that had 40-foot ceilings and a capacity of 1,000 people.

Good Health
The extra-large front gable is rich in artistry and symbolism. It also features a cartouche with letters representing “Healthy, Upright, Strong, True.”

The phrase "Gut Heil," translates as good health.

The face appearing in the relief is Friedrich Ludwig Jahn, founder of the Turner Movement. Its early roots were focused on creating a population able to resist Napoleon’s occupying army, but over time evolved to promote general health and well-being among its members and the neighborhoods in which they lived. The fruits of their early efforts in Chicago are evident today, in the form of physical education:

In 1884, Turner members of the Illinois District were responsible for introducing physical education classes into the Chicago Public Schools and provided the first instructors for these classes. In 1895, these Illinois Turners established the first playground in Chicago in Douglas Park and for many years the Turners provided the supervisors and directors for all the playgrounds in the Chicago parks. One of the parks located on the north side of Chicago is named in honor of Turner Theodore Gross who was the supervisor of the Chicago playgrounds for many years. —Illinois District of American Turners

Health and Good Beer
Beyond their work to promote good health, facilities for leisure and recreation were part of the new building. The Turner Hall contained two bowling alleys, showers, two bars (one for members and one for the public), and a two-story residence for the building manager above the lower level.

Establishment of Illinois Turner Camp

Construction of Illinois Turner Camp in Algonquin, Illinois. (circa 1915)

Around 1914, the Illinois Turner Camp at 1 North River Road, Algonquin, Illinois, opened to promote physical fitness and athletic instruction. The Turnverein Vorwaerts were one of the original founders of the new camp. 

Turner Camp Map. Illinois District Turners.
CLICK MAP FOR FULL-SIZE VIEW.

Gymnastics and physical fitness were central to the idea of Turner Camp, but it also served as a valuable retreat for Turners young and old. There are 267 cottages on the grounds, many of which have passed through generations of Turner families.

Mary Ann Aenbert and Alyce Vogel on the balance beam at Illinois Turner Camp, 1954.

Social Justice, Prohibition, and Immigrant Life During Wartime
The 1852 founding of Turnverein Vorwaerts was in part based on their staunch anti-slavery views, so it’s not surprising that the hall frequently hosted political activities that aligned with their liberal or socialist views. One group was the United Societies for Local Self-Government. In the 1920 article above, it is noted that a near-riot occurred during the meeting between that group and Congressman Britten over the topic of prohibition. An earlier declaration highlighted the cultural fault lines exposed by Southerners who pushed for prohibition and their negative feelings toward immigrants:

A meeting was called by the United Society for Local Self Government, to establish the battle program for individual liberty. The propaganda made in the south by the Prohibitionists not only ruins the existence of the saloon-keepers and clubs associations, but menaces the activities of all immigrants, especially the Germans.

This manifested again in World War Two when in 1938 a band of vigilantes stormed the hall expecting to find Nazi sympathizers. Instead, they found people playing a basketball game.

POLICE DISPERSE ANTI-NAZI CROWD AT TURNER HALL.
Find a Ball Game Instead of Hitler Partisans.

More than 100 young men, supposed members of an anti-Nazi vigilante organization, invaded the Vorwaerts Turner hall at 2431 Roosevelt Road last night. They found only a basketball game instead of the Silver Shirt Legion meeting they were looking for, and departed without starting any battles.

Policemen who were summoned said that a crowd was milling about in front of the hall when they arrived. Its members dispersed, however, at the police command. It is believed the invading group, which by that time had mixed with the crowd, were the same men who precipitated a riot Monday evening at a Silver Shirt meeting at 5825 Irving Park Road.

Opposed to Foreign "isms."
Henry Eisholz, who conducts a saloon on the first floor of the Vorwaerts hall, said he assured the invaders that the hall was never used for pro-Nazi gatherings; that the association directors had forbidden such use, and were opposed to the promotion of any foreign "isms."

"There were fifty to 100 carloads of men in the crowd," Eisholz declared, "and they acted plenty tough until they were convinced I was telling the truth." --Chicago Daily Tribune, November 30, 1938

The Turners used the opportunity to state they were opposed to any foreign ideologies, and those pro-Nazi gatherings were forbidden. A long-held tenet of American Turnverein is integration into local society, and citizenship a requirement for membership. After the war, the Turnverein Vorwaerts changed their name to the English version of their name, Forward Turners.

Neighborhood Changes as the Turners Move On
The Decline of Vorwaerts Turner Hall and Surrounding German Population

Turner Hall some time prior to 1939.

As a result of WWII, German immigration stopped and earlier residents moved out of the Near West Side communities. Membership in societies and clubs also declined rapidly, and the West Side Turner Hall saw fewer patrons and gatherings. By the mid-1940s, Turner Hall neighborhoods were deteriorating. Several attempts were made to merge the Turner societies located on the north and west sides of Chicago.

In March 1945 the Forward Turners sold their Turner Hall at 2431 W. Roosevelt Road and rented the gymnasium and hall facilities at the Olympic Building located at 6100 West Cermak Road in Cicero, Illinois.

The Swiss Turners were forced to abandon their gym program at the Swiss Clubhouse, 635 West Webster Street, because of the huge amount of rent they were asked to pay for only a few classes. These developments, among others, led to the Illinois District of the American Turners forming an 'amalgamation committee' in November 1948, attended by delegates of the five north side Turner societies, namely; Chicago, Forward, Lincoln, Social, and Swiss. 

What’s Left of the Former West Side German Community
The Near West Side was once home to some of the earliest German immigrant communities, and this rapid influx of educated and skilled people created a bustling commercial district with ornately designed buildings. But today few architectural artifacts remain. Decades of neglect, segregation, and few employment opportunities contributed to the loss of commercial and residential infrastructure.

Vorwaerts Turner Hall once had a gymnasium behind the front two structures. The gymnasium was demolished in 2007.

Demolition of buildings on the Near West Side left wide swaths of vacant lots. But the area close to downtown is rapidly changing as the area redevelops with new construction. New development near Vorwaerts Turner Hall appeared with a sign advertising “luxury homes.”

The Forward Turners Move to Cicero

Sokol Slavsky/Olympic Theatre

The Forward Turners (as they became known then) sold the building in 1945. Without a permanent space, they rented facilities at 6100 West Cermak Road in Cicero. The building in Cicero was built for Sokol Slavsky in 1924. 

Social Turner Hall at Belmont and Paulina in 1956, no longer extant.

Sokols are a Czech youth and gymnastics movement with activities and traditions very similar to Turners. Sokol Slavsky lost the building during the Great Depression and after served as a ballroom and theater, and rented out space to groups like the Forward Turners. Though space was well suited for the Forward Turners, it was only a temporary home.

Social, Swiss, and Forward Turners Unite
The 1950s were a time of upheaval for many social and fraternal organizations, especially for Turner Societies. Children and grandchildren of immigrants that formed these groups were leaving the old neighborhoods and shared less interest in being a member of a Turner Hall. In 1954, the Forward Turners and other Turner groups held a series of meetings to discuss merging and a location for a new building. During this time, the City of Chicago notified the Social Turners of plans to condemn their building at Belmont and Paulina (above) in order to build a parking facility. In the same year, the Forward, Social, and Swiss Turners officially merged and became American Turners-Northwest Chicago, holding their first meeting at the Social Turner Hall which would soon be demolished.

In February 1956,  the Forward Turners changed its name to 'American Turners-Northwest Chicago' and the Social and Swiss Turners merged with this new society (the old Forward Turners).

The American Turners–Northwest Chicago purchased land at Belmont and Natoma in 1956 and built a modern facility to host events, gymnastics, and various social gatherings.

The Rise and Fall of Bowling
Like most social organizations, the Turners sought a revenue stream for the building and other operational expenses. The Northwest Turners achieved this by incorporating a large bowling alley into the facility. The 1960s and 1970s were the golden eras of professional bowling, and revenue from the bowling alley was initially successful at subsidizing operations for the Northwest Turners. Unfortunately, the midcentury modern building with low ceilings wasn’t well suited for banquet halls or wedding receptions, limiting the use of the space for other purposes. Coupled with the sharp decline in bowling as professional and hobby sport in the 1980s and 1990s, the Turners were left without their once-thriving revenue stream. The Turners later ran a weekly bingo game to fund operations, which was successful for a while. But with few revenue-generating events and an aging building with increasingly high maintenance and repair costs, keeping the building functional became an overwhelming challenge. The Northwest Turners sold the building at Belmont and Natoma in 2005. It was later demolished and replaced with residential buildings.

The Northwest Turners Today
The Move to Schiller Park

Current location of American Turners in Schiller Park, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.

Whenever a social organization leaves a neighborhood building that served generations of people, the impact is deep. The new Turner Hall near O’Hare Airport in Schiller Park wasn’t far from the previous location, but far enough to lose some members and effectively end a few lifelong friendships that formed around a commonplace. Despite the strife and difficulty associated with losing a meeting place, Northwest Turners kept the gymnastics program and evolved with changing times, as well as strengthen ties to other Illinois Turner Societies.

Continuing the Tradition of Sound Mind in a Sound Body
Though the Northwest Turners have relocated and rebranded a few times over the course of their 150+ year history in Chicago, the organization remains committed to many of the same ideologies that date to its founding. The facility in Schiller Park hosts cheerleading class programs and has a gymnastics team that recently won a series of medals in the Illinois State Gymnastics Championship. The Northwest Turners are also active in the now 102-year old Turner Camp, which today features a bar, restaurant, pool, and continuing education and physical fitness programs.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D. 

The History of the Andy Frain Usher Service.

Chicagoan Andrew T. Frain began his career at 14 years old, after graduating 8th grade, his highest level of formal education. He started renting seat cushions, at 10¢ per game, to patrons of Comiskey Park during White Sox baseball games. Andy further added to his income by retrieving empty pop bottles and returning them for the deposit.

Andrew T. Frain

Andy Frain Services was started by Andrew T. Frain in 1924, born in Chicago's "Back of the Yards" neighborhood of the "New City" community. Family legend is that he learned the art of crowd engineering (as Andy coined) by directing his 16 siblings in and out of the family’s single bathroom.

Frain started the usher service as a way for owners to end the gate-crashing and usher-bribing that was rampant at sports venues in those days.

He rounded up some burly friends from the neighborhood and convinced the White Sox that he could do better with his honest, unbribable ushers.

Four years later, Andy won Wrigley Field’s business, too. William Wrigley Jr. advanced him the cash to buy the blue uniforms with gold braid trim that became a Frain hallmark.

Pretty soon, Andy Frain ushers became an institution themselves. If anything was happening or if anyone of note was in Chicago, an Andy Frain usher was there. Frain, who barely finished grade school, eventually expanded the business across the country.

Frain ran the company with military discipline. Most of his ushers were high school or college students, 6 feet tall or more, with white teeth, short haircuts, clean-shaven, wore white gloves, and gleaming shoes. Their uniforms were snappy blue and gold, colors Frain selected because they were the same as his favorite team's, Notre Dame. When he began hiring female ushers, Frain said he hired women who used “soap and water, not paint and powder.” Ushers were required to use polite language and not allowed to slouch, smoke, chew gum, eat or drink in front of spectators. Many former ushers attributed success later in life to the training they received as Andy Frain ushers.

Andy Frain Service at a Beatles concert.

Andy Frain's family carries on Dad's business at Comiskey Park in May 7, 1964.

And their expertise extended beyond crowd control. Andy Frain ushers would get hired as drivers, parking attendants, pallbearers, even emergency prom dates for jilted girls.  At hockey games, an Andy Frain usher would sometimes be dispatched to sit in the penalty box between players who had been fighting on the ice. Frain said in an interview that he even offered professional criers to show up at funerals.

Vintage, Iconic Andy Frain Cap made by Maier Lavaty Co.,
on Adams Street in Chicago. (circa 1950)

Chicago Cubs Wrigley Field Andy Frain Coat (circa 1970)

Andy Frain died of a heart attack on March 25, 1964, in Rochester, Minnesota. His three sons successfully took over the business until they sold it to investors in 1982. After that, the company went through a string of bankruptcies and ownership changes until 1996, when the trade name was purchased by the new owners, who have offered security services under the Andy Frain name ever since.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.