( A. Adams & Sons)
Part of the Augustus Adams Series
The company was founded in 1856 by Augustus Adams, inventor, legislator, and pioneer manufacturer, whose influence extended beyond industry into Illinois politics.
The Sandwich Manufacturing Company traces its origins to one of the earliest chapters of industrial manufacturing in the American Midwest. Its founder, Augustus Adams, began his career as an inventor and iron manufacturer in 1840, establishing what was believed to be the first iron foundry west of the Great Lakes at Elgin, Illinois. At a time when most machinery was still produced in eastern states, Adams was experimenting with iron casting, fuel sources, and agricultural implements on the western frontier.
Adams’ earliest work was conducted under primitive conditions. His first iron was melted in a small, hand built furnace using charcoal burned by himself, and his earliest castings included simple items such as plow points and iron soles. Seeking to improve efficiency, Adams experimented with hard Pennsylvania coal, a fuel then scarcely available in the region. A shipping error resulted in an unexpectedly large coal delivery to Chicago, an incident later regarded by pioneers in the coal trade as a turning point in the development of large scale coal traffic on the Chicago River.
From these early trials emerged a series of important mechanical innovations. Adams developed the first grain cutting machine in which grain was both bound and carried together, introduced the hinged cutter bar still used in mowing machines, and most notably perfected the self feeding power corn sheller. These machines addressed the growing needs of corn producers across the Mississippi Valley and played a significant role in transforming agricultural productivity in the expanding western states.
Recognizing the central importance of corn to Midwestern agriculture, Adams foresaw that large scale manufacturing of corn handling machinery would be essential to the region’s economic future. While operating in Elgin, he became acquainted with individuals from Sandwich, Illinois, who encouraged him to relocate his business. The principal inducement was Sandwich’s advantageous position near the center of the corn belt and its location along the recently completed Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad.
In 1857, Adams moved his family and business to Sandwich, establishing operations under the firm name A. Adams & Sons. The enterprise proved immediately successful. A small shop expanded steadily as demand increased throughout the West, and by the time of the Civil War the company had developed a substantial trade in agricultural machinery.
By 1867, the scale of operations had grown large enough to warrant incorporation, and the Sandwich Manufacturing Company was organized to succeed A. Adams & Sons. At the organizational meeting, W. W. Sedgwick served as secretary. Although Augustus Adams soon withdrew from active management, his sons continued the business, maintaining the firm’s reputation for mechanical innovation and quality manufacturing.
The factory itself evolved alongside the company’s growth. From its earliest wooden structures, the plant expanded repeatedly, surviving multiple fires and each time reemerging with increased manufacturing capacity. By the late nineteenth century, the Sandwich Manufacturing Company ranked among the largest and best-known agricultural implement manufacturers in the western United States.
Its products, particularly the Adams power corn shellers, were distributed nationwide and exported abroad. While power shellers were most widely used in the Mississippi Valley and western states, Sandwich built machines were also sold east of the Atlantic seaboard, contributing to the firm’s growing national and international reputation.
Augustus Adams retired from business several years before his death in October 1892. By that time, his work had left a lasting imprint on American agriculture and on the industrial development of northern Illinois. Under the continued direction of his sons, the Sandwich Manufacturing Company remained closely identified with the rise of mechanized corn production and the transformation of Sandwich from a frontier town into a center of manufacturing innovation.
Related
In 1912–1913, Sandwich Manufacturing and the Jacob Haish Company expanded in parallel during a transitional period in gasoline engine production.
Charles C. Jones represents the generation that carried Sandwich from its mercantile beginnings into sustained industrial maturity. A lifetime dedication to Sandwich Manufacturing Company.
Sources
Ardrey, R. L. American Agricultural Implements: A Review of Invention and Development in the Agricultural Implement Industry of the United States. Chicago: Published by the author, n.d., pp. 186–190.