May 2007                                                  The Megaphone                                              Page 8

Factories That Used To Be and Some Still in Elwood

by Bob *Doggie* Henderson

There was a glass factory at North 9th and J Street called Macbeth Glass I believe. Glider planes were made during the war on 9th Street. Then the lamp factory moved in after they closed it down. State Plating was close. Across the street was Continental Can Company that saw Red Gold take over later as a warehouse. Then National Trailer went in to make trailers during the war. After they closed, Zimmer Trailer moved in and later, RGF took over and made heavy duty water pumps.

On 22nd Street, Holan Engineering had a trailer company that later was bought out and Ventura was established. It burnt down and Shepard Tool built a new building and opened for business. On down the road was Monticello and they made pet cages I think. They closed and then a company opened that makes safety cones for highway construction. On east of there, RGF opened another plant on the south side of So. J street. It closed and an ink chemical plant came in. On east back in the 30’s was the largest tin-plate factory in the world. Across the street was another mfg. plant before Ex Cell-O went in. 

On 28th Street, you have Steel Slitting and across the road going north was a mattress and spring company. After the old skating rink closed, Federal Sign and Signal Company was located in the building. When they moved out, the rink was reopened until the school bought the building and tore it down. 

Also we had 2 tomato factories- Frazier's and Fettig's (now Red Gold). On South A Street was Stokley's canning factory.

I know I have missed some and if anyone can come up with more, feel free to add some.

Bob (Doggie) Henderson, '53

How to Identify the Passing of Seasons -- Old Fashioned Ways

by Cindy (Benedict) Odom

Anyone having lived in a house long enough will come to know the house as a laboratory where the passing seasons can be recorded and observed. The substance, of which a house is built, can react and respond to the changing conditions of weather. For that reason, Dad was able to use the house as a recording instrument of considerable sensitivity. How this instrument was to be read wasn't at first so apparent and he had to learn to interpret it over time.

So over the years, he learned how the house reacted to the conditions of the seasons. For example, he would measure the passing winter by keeping track of a particular snow pile in a certain corner outside of the house. Now, this corner faced north and east and was never allowed a glimpse of sunshine. It would, however, over the course of winter, get the snow and ice that would slide from that corner of the roof. As spring triumphed and winter melted away, snow would continue to linger in that cold corner. The date at last the snow is gone, provided a gauge as to how harsh the winter had been. Most years the snow pile was gone by late April, but upon occasion had endured until June.

Then about the time the snow pile melts, the door to the cellar would begin to stick. By mid-summer, it won't close at all, but by Columbus Day, it will be back to normal. And by August, the picture hanging on the living room wall tilts out without fail, signifying Labor Day isn't too far away. Within and around the house, there were assortments of mysterious cracks and leaks that must have meant something, if indeed Dad had been meticulous enough to investigate and give an explanation to their meaning.

Cindy (Benedict) Odom, '69