Throwback Thursday – MacLean-Fogg Lock Nut Company

For our weekly Throwback Thursday trip through the Epstein archives we visit November 1966 for the opening of the new office and manufacturing facility for the MacLean-Fogg Nut Company in Mundelein, Illinois. In the 60s MacLean-Fogg manufactured and marketed lock fasteners for use in industrial manufacturing, precision machinery for the production of lock nuts as well as a range of equipment used for railroad cars.

This 15-acre rural site was chosen for two reasons to provide MacLean-Foggs employees the opportunity to enjoy the views of the country site and to allow for substantial facility expansion in the future. This 130,000 square foot facility was needed due to the significant growth MacLean-Fogg has experienced as well as their desire to warehouse all of their manufactured items in one building as opposed to scattered site storage.

During the planning of this facility Epsteins designers and engineers produced a large moveable model of the facility as well as the machines that would occupy the space (now and in the future) to develop the ideal production floor plan. In the final product, Epstein developed a layout in which all of the manufacturing processes were independent of one another and did not create any flow back-ups or inefficiencies.

Lastly, the face brick chosen for the elevation was picked for it color and texture which mimicked the Mundelein country site.

This facility is still occupied and used by MacLean-Fogg and looks very much like it did in 66. The expansion that Epstein planned for has also been realized and completed by Epstein in 1975. Although the country-like vistas have long since gone as Mundelein has experienced significant growth and in population and industry.