QUILT HISTORY STORIES
ELGIN, ILLINOIS
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
LeeWard Mills and Lee Wards Story
Book 7
Susan Wildemuth, Atkinson, IL
LeeWards - Elgin, Illinois
Courtesy of
Elgin Area Historical Society
Elgin, Illinois
Quick Facts and Significant Dates
- Leeward Products, LTD, Chicago, Illinois - Incorporated January 4, 1947
- LeeWards underwent several name changes and occupied a succession of factories/offices built for other industries. The following is a list of their name and address changes and the year they took place:
LeeWards Products LTD (1947)
189 West Madison Street
Chicago, Illinois
Dexter Thread Mills, Inc. (1948)
189 West Madison Street
Chicago, Illinois
Dexter Thread Mills, Inc. (1950)
Catalog Division: LeeWard Mills Opened
LeeWard Mills (1950)
173 West Madison Street
Chicago 2, Illinois
(Catalog #1 Address)
LeeWard Mills (1952-1954)
615 Page Avenue
Elgin, Illinois
(Page Avenue and Liberty Ave – Route 25)
LeeWards (1956)
615 Page Avenue
Elgin, Illinois
(Page Avenue and Liberty Ave – Route 25)
LeeWards (1962)
840 N. State Street
Elgin, Illinois
(Route 31)
LeeWards (1971)
1200 St. Charles Street
Elgin, Illinois
(Known later as LeeWards Creative Crafts)
Special Note: There is a piece of information gleaned from an oral history which states that LeeWards might have been located at a Bluff City Blvd., Elgin, Illinois at the old Collingbourne Mills, Inc. address for a short period of time in the late 1940s or 1950s before the 615 Page Avenue, Elgin, Illinois move, but the author could find no evidence of this. Still it is worth noting in case primary source information surfaces in the future to prove it as fact or dismiss it as a myth.
Ownership Changes
Sidney C. Fink and Ralph A. Fried 1947-1969
General Mills, Inc. 1969-1985
Munford, Inc. 1985-1988
General Hands 1988-1994
Michaels and LeeWards Merged 1994
- Dissolution: LeeWards merged with Michaels and the name LeeWards ceased to be in 1994.
Products Produced: Dexter Thread Mills, Inc. with their LeeWards Catalog Division initially sold nylon thread, but they would eventually expand their products to over 10,000 art-hobbyist, craft, and needle art items.
Founders of LeeWard Mills and LeeWards
Sidney C. Fink and Ralph A. Fried
