# A trip through the Excelsior factory in 1917.



## cyclingday (Oct 25, 2015)

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## cyclingday (Oct 25, 2015)

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## cyclingday (Oct 25, 2015)

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## cyclingday (Oct 25, 2015)

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## cyclingday (Oct 25, 2015)

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## cyclingday (Oct 25, 2015)

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## cyclingday (Oct 25, 2015)

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 Is that classic or what? 
Not one pair of safety glasses!


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## DonChristie (Oct 25, 2015)

Thats amazing! Good stuff, Marty!


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## OldSkipTooth (Oct 25, 2015)

I'll take one of everything, I see you do shipping, fabulous. Thank you!


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## cyclingday (Oct 25, 2015)

This is an original hand signed letter from Ignaz Schwinn dated April 9th 1919.




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## the tinker (Oct 25, 2015)

These pictures are truly amazing.  What I love about them is the simplicity of the machinery used to turn out the fine machines they built.
OSHA today would have a field day in this place. I like how in the first page it is mentioned the "thorough"ventilation system for the employees for heating and ventilation.....
All those open spinning machines, long leather belts.
Seeing the workmen's photos make me wonder how long many of the fellows that worked there doing the plating, brazing and painting lived.
During the 1960's I worked at National Lead Co.'s paint plant on the south side of Chicago. It opened in like 1906 or so.It was all the original buildings. 
Part of the original plant was left exactly as it was before W.W.2  These photos remind me of it. 
this part of the paint factory was barricaded permanently shut. It was an immense place.
I had persuaded an older worker who had worked there to get me in to see the shut down building.  He made me promise to tell no one as no one was allowed to even walk through it. 
He told me every one who worked in there before the war was dead of lead poisoning.It was not until the 1950's that they realized the terrible hazards that was every where in the plant.
When they shut down that half of the plant nothing was taken out. It was dirty beyond imagination with this heavy black dust every where....lead dust.
A cool , spooky place for a high school kid to see during his summer job.
Sadly years later I found out the part I worked in during the 1960's wasn't much better.
Glad I only worked there 3 months. The building where they made the original "Dutch Boy Paint" and the open furnaces that cooked the lead into lead oxide are now gone.....
I guess it's a good thing. But good old lead paint.... what a fine product it was.....I think most of our old bikes are covered in it. Like the old timers used to say' "taint nothing like lead paint".
Any way these photos took me back to a simpler but more dangerous time. Thank you for posting them.


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## highwheel431 (Oct 25, 2015)

When I worked for Schwinn in the mid 70's we did testing in this building.  We were doing dry and wet braking tests for the ISO bicycle braking committee on the 6th floor. The reason I remember that is I was the test rider and would accelerate to 15mph, cross through the the doors midway through the building and would then apply the brakes.  We were testing a Sears bike with hydraulic brakes on steel rims wet.  I traveled the entire length of half of the building with the brakes on and actually bumped into the end wall, (the length of a football field).  Can we say POS!!!!


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## pedal_junky (Oct 25, 2015)

Outstanding Marty, thanks for sharing.


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## Tim the Skid (Oct 26, 2015)

Thanks for sharing, and taking the time to post this. Fascinating. The signed letter is awesome.


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## cyclingday (Oct 26, 2015)

Tim the Skid said:


> Thanks for sharing, and taking the time to post this. Fascinating. The signed letter is awesome.




Thanks,
I have another letter from 1927 that is from the sales department, signed by CJ Palmer.
It was being sold in a separate lot, but was paired with a signed letter from Ignaz Schwinn to a Mr. Harold Ambray.
Apparently, Mr. Ambray had sent for a product catalog, but hadn't inquired about a purchase, so the sales department had sent a letter assuring him that the Excelsior Henderson motorcycles were the finest machines made and that he wouldn't regret buying one.
The mated letter was from Ignaz Schwinn about six months later wondering why Mr. Ambray had not purchased a motorcycle after being contacted by the sales department.
Unfortunately, the seller of these letters split the lot and I was unsuccessful in my bid for the Ignaz signed mate.
These letters were a great insight in to how business was conducted back then. (I can't imagine being contacted by the president of Ford concerning a purchase of a new car today.) They really should have remained together for posterity.
The all mighty dollar won out, and now these letters will never be seen in their context together again.
I regret not throwing down the big bucks for the Ignaz letter, but I just didn't think it sell for so much.
Fortunately, I was able to secure the earlier letter that I posted before, but I sure would of liked to have been able to preserve the pair.
Anyway, here is the letter sent from the sales manager to Mr. Ambray in 1927.







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## Tim the Skid (Oct 26, 2015)

Now that's customer service!


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## catfish (Oct 26, 2015)

Very cool! Thanks for posting.


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## RetroBMX (Oct 27, 2015)

Now that is some kickazz letterhead. 

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## spokes (Oct 27, 2015)

You have to look at orig. literature as a capital investment. When showing it you cannot take the picture straight on, it makes copying it too easy. If it will eventually be for sale you have devalued it. Why buy an original for $100 when you can buy a $10 copy?


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## cyclingday (Oct 27, 2015)

spokes said:


> You have to look at orig. literature as a capital investment. When showing it you cannot take the picture straight on, it makes copying it too easy. If it will eventually be for sale you have devalued it. Why buy an original for $100 when you can buy a $10 copy?
> 
> No worries.
> Original is king!
> I don't know too many people that are interested in buying replicas or facsimiles of correspondence letters.


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## larock65 (Oct 29, 2015)

Great stuff as always Marty!


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## dave429 (Nov 5, 2015)

Thanks for sharing! I love looking at those old pictures.


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## highwheel431 (Mar 10, 2016)

Does anyone know what year this building was torn down?  I believe that there is a YMCA on this property today.


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## bikewhorder (Mar 10, 2016)

Wow, look at all the manpower that went into making these bikes.  One machine replaces hundreds of employees today.


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## cyclingday (Mar 11, 2016)

highwheel431 said:


> Does anyone know what year this building was torn down?  I believe that there is a YMCA on this property today.




September, 1996









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## highwheel431 (Mar 11, 2016)

Great pictures.  I remember the building well.  If I'm not mistaken it had some historical architectural significance as being a first of its kind ever being built.


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## highwheel431 (Mar 11, 2016)

I was in Chicago this week and went by the old Schwinn neighborhood.  Of the three complexes that existed, Kostner Ave, Kildare St and Cortland St, only the Kostner buildings still stand.  Here are some pictures.  The entrance at 1856 N. Kostner where the offices.  One of the Manufacturing facilities is what is attached to the left or south side of the entrance.


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