Arnold, Schwinn & Company was established in Chicago in the last quarter of the year 1895. Over the years the company rented, purchased, and built several facilities in Chicago. This is the tenth in a series of posts about head office and factory locations in Chicago.

Previously on this blog I wrote this post “Arnold, Schwinn & Company: North 43rd (Kildare) Avenue Location“. This post is meant to improve on this earlier post about the Kildare Avenue location.

The 43rd Avenue plant was the first factory that Ignaz Schwinn built with the sole purpose of manufacturing bicycles. This was the main location for Arnold, Schwinn & Co. for most of the company’s existence in Chicago.

The building of this plant was begun in 1901 and completed in 1902. The location was adjacent to the March-Davis Company location which was purchased after bankruptcy. The site for the factory is immediately south of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Rail Road line which runs east-west on Bloomingdale Avenue.

In reviewing the news clips from the 1900 – 1920 trade publications and the sketched images of the Kildare avenue plant, I have re-evaluated the possible interpretations of the data.

Fact 1: The Kildare plant construction began late in 1901 and probably was not completed until 1902. The address for the new factory is an old format Chicago address. The address changes between 1901 and 1914 due to the numbering and naming standards of the City of Chicago.

Photographs of the Kildare Plant

Photographs of Kildare plant prior to 1937: I have seen none.

There are high elevation aerial survey photographs of Chicago in 1937 and 1938. But these Photographs do not give a street level view of the plant.

I have seen a lower elevation aerial photo of two Schwinn plants from sometime between 1975 and 1982. I found a photograph of the photograph on flickr. The original photograph was on display at the American Bicycle Museum in New Bremen, Ohio sometime prior to 2017. I do not think that the photograph currently on display.

Sketches of the Kildare plant

I have seen three different sketches all made before 1946.

Circa1917 sketch found in three locations:

• news articles about 1,000,000 bike from Kildare Plant.
• 1918 Dec. 08 Chicago Tribune news story.
• Henderson Bicycle advertisement.

I had previously assumed this sketch was the factory in its “original” state. There is a chimney and a water tank. But I now believe that this sketch is from 1917, after one or more extensions to the original factory.

Extension to Kildare prior to 1918

• 1907 Enameling
• 1910 Extension with chimney
• 1917 extension

1907 Enameling

1910 Extension with chimney

I had originally thought that this news item described the plant at Kostner Ave & Cortland Street. I thought this because I had assumed the the first sketch of the factory was from 1902 and that sketch shows a chimney. That sketch is probably from 1917 and that shows the 1910 chimney.

1917 extension

In Motorcycle and Bicycle Illustrated trade news story about the 1,000,000 bicycle from the Kildare Avenue plant, printed in June of 1917. There is a note about an extension to the factory. The sketches of the factory in the story appear to show the factory with all the extension.

1940 sketch

1940 and 1941 Schwinn catalogues. Same Sketch in both years.

The sketch above shows the Kildare Avenue plant more extensions. The new rectangular extension in the foreground appears to has an Art Deco facade.

Sketch comparison: 1917 vs 1940s

• The main building is 7 windows longer on the north end of Kildare ave. 7 windows x 32 windows facing north.
• There is a new Art Deco rectangle Building.
• The saw tooth roof building is extended.
• Enclosed gaps between three sections of south structure.
• The property across Kildare Ave is a park, not residential.

There were several more additions to the Kildare Avenue plant over the years up to 1982 when the plant was closed.

The next post in the series is a re-evaluation of the the Kostner Avenue plant in the history of Arnold Schwinn and Company.