C.O.C.A. Times

Manufacturing Company was ready to begin over.
This time success crowned their efforts. The main
building was a large brick structure, 200' x 40',
while the foundry was 1 00' x 70'. Besides the two
larger factories, there were a number of smaller
buildings occupied by foundries, machine shops, dry-
ing houses, warehouses, general offices, etc. The
plant was up-to-date in every respect, employing a
large force of men, and turning out a variety of
products. Besides the dozens of coffee mills of dif-
ferent designs, the Arcade plant produced screen
door hinges, stove pipe dampers, lid lifters, cork ex-
tractors, corkscrews, and numerous small notions
and novelties. In 1893, L. L. Munn became a partner
in the Arcade Manufacturing firm. In December of
that year, he invested heavily in the company, and
thenceforth, became the principal stockholder. For
many years he filled the office of president, and,
upon his death, his interest in the concern was taken
up by his son, L. L. Munn, Jr.
The Arcade Manufacturing Company
The first products of the Arcade factory were a cork
extractor and a screen door hinge, but within two
years they began assembling box type coffee mills
and other small cast iron machinery for home use.
The buildings of the Novelty Iron Works were used
for a brief time only. They quickly became too
crowded, and a move was soon made to a new fac-
tory erected especially for the purpose in East Free-
port. From there the company moved, in September
1891, to another site, and took possession of a
building which had been recently vacated by the
Emory and Williams Canning Company. This building
was fitted up with suitable machinery, and a pros-
perous business start had just been made, when, on
July 24, 1892, the factories were burned to the
ground and all the new equipment lost. It was sus-
pected at the time that the plant had been fired by
an incendiary (arson). However that might have
been, the entire factory with all its
appurtenances was a total loss,
and the Arcade Manufacturing
Company, which had enjoyed
such pleasant prospects, gloomily
faced a deficit of over $20,000
(equivalent to $381 ,000 today).
This was bad enough, but about
40,000 coffee mills, finished and in
the process of manufacture, were
burned, and the new company was
unable to fill its first orders.
A Use for Scrap
To help use up metal scraps from the manufacture
of larger items such as plows and windmills, Arcade
Manufacturing Co. started producing their first line
of toys , which were toy coffee grinders. In 1 888,
they added more toys and soon the toys became
the principal products of the company. By the early
1 900s, the company was doing so well, they issued
their own SO-page catalogue of toys. By 1939, the
Arcade line of toys swelled to over three hundred
different items.
The Yellow Cab, Arcade's first wheel toy, was made
in 1921, and cost $1.50 retail. The 1920s were the
great years for Arcade
wheel toys. Arcade
toys came to gross as
much as $1,000,000 in
one year, as much as all
other Arcade products
combined. Molding ma-
chinery was designed
and marketed to keep
up with the output. Doll house furniture sets were
,,_.,,,,._ ~ added during the 1 920s and sold for
1 0. Most wheel toys were marked
Arcade , the label cast as part of the
oy on the underside. (Sometimes de-
The fire was a severe blow,
and any but the most zealous
of men would have been profoundly discouraged.
Not so the new Arcade Manufacturing Company.
Hardly were the ashes of the fire cold when negotia-
tions were under way for the purchase of a new fac-
tory site in East Freeport. A large square of land,
formerly belonging to the Keller-Wittbecker farm
was bought, and part of it was divided up into lots.
The newly platted section of East Freeport was
known as the Arcade Addi-
t ion, and on part of the land,
t he company erected its
new offices and foundries.
In February, 1893, the
new factory had been
completed, and the Arcade
1893 Arcade Manufacturing Co.
coffee mill
AltCAOtt t,IANU" A
TUltlNO COM PANY
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