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Rare FreshN'd-Aire... found in my pile


Nicholas Denney

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Tripped over this thing for the umpteenth time, yes, I'll get to it eventually... I noticed this FreshN'd-Aire has a WELLS ST. address on its tag. I proceeded to spend the next half hour looking for other examples with this address... came up empty.

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It is just another slap it together assembly Fresh'nd-aire facility. But, yes, I have not seen that address before.  It appears to have a Redmond tin can motor with the smaller 5/16" shaft.

Devore must have leased(?) buildings at various addresses in Chicago to slap the fans together up until Cory Corp. bought him out in 43. 

Edited by Russ Huber
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7 minutes ago, Russ Huber said:

It is just another slap it together Fresh'nd-aire facility. But, yes, I have not seen that address before. 

I always thought there was fairly close study on the Clinton, Washington, and LaSalle addresses that are usually found on this 'generation' of FreshN'd-Aire, so I see much significance in you having never seen this street address before. Considering the sheer volume of them that are known, why so long to finally see one!?

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2 hours ago, Nicholas Denney said:

I always thought there was fairly close study on the Clinton, Washington, and LaSalle addresses that are usually found on this 'generation' of FreshN'd-Aire, so I see much significance in you having never seen this street address before. Considering the sheer volume of them that are known, why so long to finally see one!?

If you find great significance in it, that is a good thing. Thanks for sharing. Marshall street was another assembly facility address. I probably have forgot a few more. Devore (Fresh'nd-aire CEO) with little doubt sold out to Cory Corp. in 43 due to WW2 war material needs sending him sailing into bankruptcy? Kreig-McClain (KMC) bellied up due to WW2 war material needs.

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Edited by Russ Huber
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Have we ever figured out what the point was? Jumping addresses multiple times in less than a decade is a complete logistical nightmare, so is that what he was doing?

Was he really moving equipment and operations with THAT frequency? 

Did he engineer redundany so that maybe two or 3 addresses were making the same thing? Or did he split up the models between addresses and we haven't noticed yet? 

Or, yet, were the fans not even made at any of the given addresses and these were simply showrooms? This seems actually plausible. Other companies I've researched that were based in older cities typically had a factory building in one location and a small showroom space up to 10-15 blocks away in another building with attractive frontage. 

It's worth noting that at least in this discovery of 326 N. Wells... it is only a couple blocks from the 221 N. LaSalle address, the next nearest are roughly ¾ mile away

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Maybe it was just the sales office. To show how things change, a Wacker Drive address is all the rage so the building is now 121 W Wacker.

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Screenshot_20240714_065244_ChromeBeta.jpg.34d503e68d5541e26af8e058d1d0d9e2.jpg

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It looks like this building may have been something like a shared office building. Kind of like one newer professional people might have to give the appearance of having a physical space. They all share a building and secretary/receptionist and have their own individual suite. There might be a common conference meeting room they share too. Given the reference to Department # and Desk # in the ads I am guessing this arrangement is even more likely. These periodicals are from 1915-1919. I also found this about Fred Wolf's death from 1912, the company must have gone on using his name. 

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I took a crack at it, and so it be.... a grimey little Redmond motor... 1/25th HP

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4 hours ago, Michael Rathberger said:

Maybe it was just the sales office. To show how things change, a Wacker Drive address is all the rage so the building is now 121 W Wacker.

I see Cory Corp. listed back when at the 221 N. La Salle address for sales and manufacturing. The validity of both sales and manufacturing there......??  I have probably overstepped my boundaries claiming these Fresh'nd-aire addresses are all assembly addresses. I actually don't know this to be gospel, and I am not losing much sleep over it.

Mike Kearns has posted compilations of these circulator manufacturers with far more detail than me. 

Edited by Russ Huber
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Assembly is a possibility but production/manufacturing I don't see in that building from what I've seen of it.

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3 hours ago, Mike Kearns said:

See year 1945:

 

I just did. I should have paid more attention to it in past. It appears Nicholas is using photos in your 2022 posting (below) as his own. What is up with that, Nicholas?

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4 hours ago, Russ Huber said:

I should have paid more attention to it in past. It appears Nicholas is using photos in your 2022 posting (below) as his own. What is up with that, Nicholas?

Are you having a joke here, Russ? You know he edits these posts over time as he buildss them, but you shouldn't be questioning in the first place when I am plainly credited above the images...

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13 minutes ago, Nicholas Denney said:

Are you having a joke here, Russ?

No jokes, I am just getting old, slipping a few clogs, senior moments, etc.  

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9 minutes ago, Russ Huber said:

No jokes, I am just getting old, slipping a few clogs, senior moments, etc.  

I know it is popular to hate me but I don't have a track record of using other people's photos as my own... I have found people doing that with my photos! Regardless, I forgive you. 🙂 👍

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