February 3, 2016
Last week our Throwback Thursday feature was for a company called Olson Transportation Co. in Hodgkins, Illinois, this week we decided to cover another Olson this one, the Olson Division of Unarco Industries in Franklin Park, Illinois. Therefore we take a trip back to October 1967 for the opening of the Olson/Unarco new 118,000 square foot manufacturing plant and office a facility that produced conveyors for use in food production and paper handling.
The entire Epstein designed and engineered production wing was designed to facilitate the flow of Olson/Unarco's manufacturing operation from receipt of raw metal stock to the storage of finished product. This plant also made use of overhead cranes to help with the speed and ease of handling Olson/Unarco's product.
In addition, the office component of Olson/Unarco featured a very simple, yet elegant modernist glass and steel structure that emphasized daylighting technigues and an open floor plan.
Interestingly, a few months after the completion of this building the Olson Division of Unarco was purchased by American Chain & Cable Company, better known as ACCO. A company BTW that Epstein has provided design, engineering and construction services for in Mississippi and Mexico.
After the sale, this building operated under the Olson/Unarco brand name for many years, although sadly, the building no longer stands, and is just an empty lot that's being used for storage of equipment by a neighboring business.
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