INDUSTRIAL BUILDING SPOONS

All spoons are sterling except the bottom two


Engraved Beet Sugar Factory, Grand Junction, Colorado


Each new factory of the Great Western Sugar Company quickly became the hub of the agricultural community in which it was built.
 Sugar beets were cultivated in Colorado as early as 1869, and tests conducted by the State Agricultural College in Fort Collins a decade later confirmed that Colorado soil could yield up to 30 tons of sugar beets per acre.
The first sugar beet processing factory in Colorado was built in Grand Junction in 1899.



Engraved Furniture Factory, Grand Rapids, Mich

The period of significance for the  Furniture Factory Historic District was 1910 to 1942.


Acid etched Cement plant, Independence, Kansas

Built in 1905, this huge Portland concrete factory supplied all the raw materials for construction in Kansas.
The population grew from 200 to over a thousand in one year




Embossed Minnequa Steel Works, Pueblo, Colorado

The Colorado Fuel and Iron Company was the states largest employer and dominated industry in Colorado for decades.
The railroad expansion of 1879 created a high demand for steel and General Palmer constructed the steel mill to supply high grade steel.



Pearl Button Factory, Manchester,Ohio

When it was discovered that freshwater mussels could make pearls which could be turned into buttons,
a new industry was born.

Based upon immigrant John Boepple's machine to make buttons from the mollusks found in the Mississippi river, Pearl city (Muscatine)
became the largest manufacturer of pearl buttons in the world.
In 1898, more than 138 million buttons were made in Iowa





Sugar beet factory, Grand Island, Nebraska

The second factory in the USA  to start sugar production was on Grand Island ca. 1890
Sugar production is still an important agricultural commodity for this area




Swift's Ft. Worth plant, Texas

This small spoon represents a large part of the history of Ft. Worth, Texas
In 1876, the area became a major shipping point for livestock.
Around 1900, both Armour and Swift started construction for meat packing plants. By coin flip, Armour won the northern site
and Swift won the southern site (which was doubly beneficial as a large gravel pit was found for cement making)
By 1909, this area was one of the largest stockyards in the country.






Engraved views of the Krell French Piano Factory in New Castle, Ind.



Detail engraved view Krell French Piano Factory in New Castle, Ind.

Built ca. 1908, the Jesse French & Sons Piano Company is a major producer of fine quality musical instruments


Two spoons from the same original order depicting the milling district in Minneapolis, Minnesota


You can see minor details which have been changed by the engraver during the engraving process.
Most likely both of these spoons were engraved by the same person
Engraving is both a skill and an artform


ca. 1905
The area was mainly for flour milling
but a number of commercial and cultural buildings are located in this area


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