Chicago’s Paris Pen Company
When we contemplate of Paris, we think of France, not Chicago. But the restored pen this week brings us to the “Blowing City”.
This pen was a fun one to restore as it is so colorful and very mercifully preserved red hard rubber. As you can see from the photo below this is a lever filler that has not been familiar in quite some time as evidenced by the fractured and hardened sac. Type cleaning was done. The section, feed and nib were scrubbed with q-tips and finished up with an ultrasonic cleaner. The cap was swabbed out and had the everyday caked on ink residue. The threads on the barrel were markedly dirty and a toothbrush did the trick on these. A size 16 sac was devoted to to the section with sac cement and the pen was reassembled.
As you can see, the pen was a promotional pen, commissioned by the Merkle Broom Companionship. A search for Merkle Broom Company brings a eleemosynary surprise. It was in Paris, Illinois. See the following:
The “Broom Works”: Merkle Broom Company
Merkle Broom Gathering was established by John Merkle, Sr. and his son, Oscar T. Merkle, in 1879. The slab factory was built at the corner of West End Avenue and Broom Circle in 1890. Also known as Merkle-Wiley Broom Co. The task was known as the largest broom manufacturer in the world during the inopportune 20th century. At one time, it produced 6,000 brooms per day. Its “Blu-J” inscribe of brooms was manufactured into the 1960s. The company merged with France Broom Co. in 1964, but the plant closed several years later. In 1985, a clobber manufacturer acquired the location. The original building survived a ardency in 1996, but Northern Harvest demolished it in 1999 to require way for a newer facility. Source: Paris Beacon-Advice, March 3, 1999
