Over 115 Years in Manufacturing Excellence

On August 1, 1989, Protexall, Incorporated celebrated its 100^th birthday. Its evolution from a fledging company in Abingdon, Illinois, first named Globe Manufacturing, to a major supplier of workmen’s clothing, has been one of continual growth and change.

Let us step back to 1889 when women wore long skirts and men went to work on horseback.

It was during this time that Samuel T. Mosser, 28, was working as a junior partner in his father’s dry goods store in Abingdon, Illinois. This was where he conceived the idea of a garment factory, and for months he experimented with patterns and ideas. When satisfied with his plans he approached two of his friends, James W. Cox, and J.W. McCown, for their assistance.   With these three young entrepreneurs so eager and optimistic, Globe Manufacturing was destined for greatness.   The tiny factory opened its doors on August 1, 1889, on the corner of Main and Martin Streets in Abingdon. The gentlemen operated out of only two rooms in the two-story brick building (called the Blair Building) on the corner. The largest room contained the cutting, sewing, inspection, and storage department; an adjoining room held piece goods.

The country had changed dramatically after the Civil War. Men, caught up in the Industrial Revolution, were leaving their farms by the score. To this end they needed the best quality work clothing, and Globe Manufacturing was ready to serve.

James Cox took on the job as salesman for Globe Manufacturing, traveling in seven states. This is quite impressive due to the fact that the only mode of transportation available to him, besides horseback, was the steam train.

At this time two railroads passed through Abingdon, the Northern Cross (later known as the C.B. & Q.), and the Iowa Central, which made runs from Mason City, Iowa, to Peoria, Illinois. However, passenger service wasn’t actually developed here until the early 1900’s so traveling about would be an uncomfortable experience, at best. Mr. Cox, known for his drive and good business sense, persevered and the company continued to grow.

Mr. Mosser remained in Abingdon and managed the business on the home front. The 15 years he spent learning from his father served him well. Mr. Mosser set prices and bought goods always keeping a sharp eye on the bottom line.

Things were moving so quickly that the 10 original sewing machines were unable to keep up. The sewing machines were moved from their cramped quarters to the second floor of the building on January, 1890. The entire second floor was turned into the sewing room with an addition of six new machines. The ground floor became the cutting and stock rooms.

And the company continued to grow.

On April 1, 1890, a vacant lot on the corner of Main and Pearl Streets was purchased. Construction began immediately on a two-story frame building to house the ever expanding industry. Within months the 40’ x 100’ building was erected and July 4, 1890, was moving day.

The addition of 16 new sewing machines doubled the machine inventory.

A note must be made here reflecting on the management’s increased knowledge of the garment industry. The cutting room (14’ x 100’) in this new building was considered to be the best arranged in the State of Illinois.

Even with this organization and improved capital, it wasn’t enough to supply needs. The orders were pouring in and the decision was made in 1892 for a two-story brick addition (40’ x 50’) to be added onto the back of the frame building.

This addition made the plant floor space a total of 90’ x 100’. This was to be the last expansion of the Globe Manufacturing business in the construction sense.

Looking for ways to remain competitive and up-to-date, an accessory line was added. In 1895 Mr. C.W. Keel joined the company in a supervisory capacity. Under his guidance Globe began manufacturing a line of men’s suspenders.

The largest expansion came in 1919 when Globe bought out the Superior Garment Company. Superior’s home base was located in Columbia City, Indiana. In addition to the home plant, Superior also operated branch plants in South Whitney and Auburn, also in Indiana.

This prestigious addition brought Globe’s holdings to a total of six plants in full operation. The name was changed from the Globe Shirt and Overall Company to the Globe-Superior Company.

Mr. Charles H. Snyder was transferred to Abingdon to help with the tremendous work load. Mr. Snyder was previously associated with Superior Garment, and had now become the Production Manager of all six Globe-Superior plants.

The 1920’s brought our first magazine exposure with advertisements being run of the one-piece protective suit and other Protexall protective apparel. Sales came fast and the factories were making changes and adjustments to keep up. The South Whitney and Auburn plants were discontinued in 1922 to enable assets to be spread in strategic locations around the country.     To handle the western trade a branch office and factory opened in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1924. This operation complimented the active San Francisco, California, branch.     In 1925 the Commerce Manufacturing Company in Commerce, Georgia, was purchased and work on modernizing the factory began immediately. This was a prime location for construction and shipment of garments to the southern states.     The company now employed around 550 to 600 workers with a sales force of 35 to 40 men. Sales were near the $2,000,000 mark; workers were being paid an average of 35 cents an hour.

Where there were automobiles, there was also Protexall. Aggressive advertising placed Protexall work suits on the same page as other automobile necessities, such as water buckets and gasoline cans.

Advertisements were placed in the automobile magazines "Motor Age" and "Automobile Trade Journal" during 1924 to 1928.   Appealing to both work and leisure time the advertisements note that Protexall has, as always, constructed the highest quality garments on the market.       Production had increased by 70% during 1929. To maintain this pace the basement and first floor of a building on West Jackson Street, Abingdon, was leased for one year (called the Odd Fellows building).   Fifty additional sewing machines were ordered to be installed in this temporary plant. Cutting, embroidery work and distribution would be located in the main factory, with the temporary plant used for the construction of the one-piece Protexall only.

The first advertisement for "Help Wanted" appeared on September 24, 1929, but the new plant didn’t begin production until January 7, 1931.   Fifty new employees were chosen from the 150 applicants, and put to work as the new machines arrived.   Work began in 1933 in Abingdon, Illinois, on what would become three factory units to be combined into one large plant. Full working factories were built to the north and east of the original building.

In 1936 the old Globe plant was raised and excavation began on the basement of the third building. When completed the three buildings occupied over ½ a block on Main Street and over ¾ a block on East Pearl.

The basement in this new building actually had an air-conditioned cafeteria able to seat 400. This was an entirely new concept in Abingdon’s industrial area.

It was during this year that J.C. (Jerry) Fox of New York City left his job as clothing buyer for the J.C. Penney Company. After purchasing a substantial interest in the Blue Bell Overall Company (chief competitor of Globe) he immediately began buying up all outstanding Globe-Superior stock. Mr. Fox’s plan was to merge these two companies and he financed his idea with a two-year loan of $150,000 secured with no collateral whatsoever.

Ready to retire and take much needed rests, Lloyd Mosser, Charles Snyder, and Mrs. Kate Mosser (Samuel’s widow) all liquidated their stock and resigned from the corporation.

The merger was completed on December 1, 1936, and Globe-Superior became Blue Bell with stock transfers. The new Blue Bell company was now several times larger than its closest competitor.

Roger LeMarry, born and raised in Abingdon, Illinois, trained as an engineer at Globe-Superior/Protexall for six years, starting in 1930. Going to work for Blue Bell, with the knowledge he gained as an engineer at Protexall, he worked his way to President and Chief Executive Officer of the company, leading the corporation to the billion dollar empire that it is today.

Globe-Superior/Protexall employees were upset by this turn of events. Did the factory struggle to stay open through the darkest depression in history, only to be closed down by an ownership change? What the employees may or may not have known is that the idea of closing the plants during the depression had been discussed. If the company would have shut the doors they could have saved a great deal of money. The idea was vetoed by the stockholders, however. Feeling they owed it to the employees to remain open, they took their losses graciously while maintaining their entire work force. The company stood by their employees then, and they aren’t about to let them down now.

Blue Bell’s plans were for the manufacture of jackets, overalls, and denim blue jeans (today’s Wranglers) only, stopping temporarily, the construction of the now famous Protexall garments.

Mr. Will Norris had worked at the original Globe plant since its opening on August 1, 1889. Working his way up through the company, he maintained employment there until his death in 1941.   Will’s nephew, Earl Norris, had worked in the sales department of Globe-Superior/Protexall for years.   Concentrating his efforts on the Protexall line had resulted in Protexall’s being sold by the thousands annually. Traveling the USA and Canada, he personally sold the Protexall to nearly every laborer in the land. That was quite an accomplishment since modes of transportation and accommodations during that era were quite inadequate and uncomfortable at best.

Not willing to let the Protexall garment lie in storage indefinitely, Mr. Norris approached the Blue Bell management about buying patent and trademark rights to the Protexall line. Globe-Superior was not anxious to see the demise of their famous Protexall garments either, and on December 8, 1936, the trademark was sold to Mr. Norris.

In 1937 Fred Coakley, Jr. left his position at Gross Manufacturing to team up with Earl. Together they made Protexall’s manufacturing home at 71 North West Street in Galesburg. This set up something of a flashback to the old Globe plant of 1889. The Protexall office was on the main floor with the sewing room upstairs. Mr. Norris was in charge of Sales, Mr. Coakley in charge of Production, supervising eight employees.

Earl was generous with his dedicated employees, paying them top wages-$14.00 to $16.00 a week. Earl’s son, Kip would work in the plant as a bundle boy during school vacations.

The newly resurrected Protexall was incorporated with bylaws written up and a Board of Directors elected. Shareholder meetings were to be held on the second Monday in January, beginning with the new year 1938. At this first meeting Earl E. Norris, with controlling interest, was elected President; Fred Coakley, Jr., Vice-President; and Forrest McGrew, Secretary-Treasurer.

On September 2, 1941, Earl sold the trademark, of which he had sole ownership, to his company, Protexall Incorporated. The trademark has been in Protexall Incorporated hands ever since.

Obvious to everyone, the little building would never handle the growing company. A move was made on October 29, 1942, to 262 North Prairie Street, Galesburg.

Enroute to persuade his oldest son, Claire, to join the company Earl Norris passed away. On April 7, 1948, his son, known to everyone as Kip, not only joined but assumed management-of Protexall.

C.B. (Kip) Norris had moved to California and was selling insurance at this time. Kip’s sales experience included selling insurance to service men during the years he spent in the Armed Service during World War II. Kip was one of the first, with his division, to land on the hostile Japanese homeland as part of the American occupying forces then Japan surrendered.

At age 25 Kip was a natural leader, over-seeing the factory he had only worked in part-time during his school days. With Fred Coakley’s help Kip was determined to make the best of what he had. Business decisions were make which resulted in the tripling of Protexall’s employment within the next ten years.

Mr. Fred Coakley retired from Protexall in 1958.

Carrol L. (Kayo) Norris who was working as an aeronautical engineer in California, joined his brother, Kip, in the Protexall enterprise in April, 1958, serving as Executive Vice President and Secretary.

Disaster struck on the evening of January 2, 1959. President Kip Norris had left the plant for the evening around 7:00 p.m. after first checking on the heating system as he did every evening.

At 7:30 p.m. a passerby to the plant noticed smoke and alerted the cleaning woman. She immediately called the fire department and they arrived on the scene three minutes later.

As three fire trucks battled the inferno, Kip, his brother Kayo, and past president Fred Coakley were rushing in and out of the burning building desperately trying to save inventory records, customer files, and office equipment. Every in-house order was saved intact.

The fire was difficult to battle as it was burning between the ceiling and the roof; the roof finally caved in. As the firemen worked on through the freezing January night they were supplied with hot coffee and donuts by the American Legion and Moose Lodge. Off duty firemen were called in as relief crew.

The building was left in smoldering ruins a little after midnight.

Mr. Edward Gross of Gross Manufacturing unselfishly came to the aid of Protexall. With the loan of his company truck, the records and equipment were moved from a liquor store where they were so hastily deposited to the Gross Manufacturing plant at 152 East Ferris Street.

Mr. Gross had set up a make-shift office for Kip and Kayo so they could begin sorting through the papers and decide what should be done.

This was right in the middle of Protexall’s busiest season. Letters were immediately sent out to customers informing them of this setback, but urging them to be patient. Protexall would be back soon.

The cause of the fire was not known, and remains unsolved to this day.

An incomplete examination of the ruins showed extensive damage. The contents included 60 machines damaged beyond repair. If there could be a bright spot for Kip it would be that just recently the cutting operations had been moved to a Ferris Street warehouse. Here all patterns and materials remained unharmed.

The nightmare wasn’t over. At sometime between 5:30 p.m. on January 3^rd to 7:00 p.m. on January 4^th the remains of the building were looted.

The robbers had climbed over the protective wall erected around the fire site and down through the caved-in roof.

Several boxes of shirts had been ransacked with several dozen shirts gone. Also missing were several jackets, an industrial record player, and the public address speakers which had been torn off the walls.

The entire lot was found by two county highway workers on January 8 about three miles south of Victoria, Illinois, scattered about in ravines on both sides of the road.

The first order of business was to find a building to resume production in. The Skinner Paint building at 750 West Main Street had been vacant for two years and it seemed a good place in which to re-open Protexall.

The owner of the building was located in Florida. He was not too interested in leasing the building, but since this was an emergency situation he agreed to help as long as it was zoned for factory use.

The City Planning Commission found that the building was not properly zoned. However, because it was both an emergency and temporary situation, the ruling was waived.

On Monday morning, January 5, 1959, the water was turned on, followed by electricity and gas.

Apparel firms in Wisconsin, Indiana, Chicago, and of course, Gross Manufacturing, made available what stock they could to help fill outstanding orders.

One of Protexall’s services, dating back to the turn of the century was the use of embroidery on upper garments. Replacement embroidery machines were being sent from new York and a Protexall representative flew to Cleveland, Ohio, to meet it halfway and speed the shipment along.

Three sewing machine firms from Chicago met at the fire site to determine the extent of the damage and repair or replacement needs. Mechanics were to report to the new building on January 12, to start set-up on the new machines.

Kip had set several goals for himself during this ordeal. The target dates set were as follows:

1. January 15, 1959 - first shipping date for the unfilled orders at the time of the fire.
2. January 19, 1959 - third Monday after the fire. Production lines should start and the first complete garment should be off the line by January 21.
3. January 26, 1959 - Employees should begin returning to work with all employees back by January 30 (the four week anniversary of the fire).

In the midst of the cleaning crew five women were huddled in a circle working to get the first shipment out in time. There was no heat in the building yet, and it was as cold inside as it was outside. The floor heaters surrounding them provided scant relief from the bitter January cold.

The women’s dedication paid off and just before midnight on January 15, 1959, the first order was packed. Kip’s first target date was met.

Plans continued as hoped. On January 19, 1959, the first of four production lines started up with 16 women reporting to work.

The first completed garment was off the line on January 21, 1959. A green "Super 12" Protexall workman’s jacket, was kept and displayed in Mr. Norris’ office. His second goal had just been met.

On January 30, 1959, all but 5 employees were back to work. The last 5 were due to report the first week of February (total employees on payroll-66). Protexall was back in business with a 100% return of the work force, meeting the third goal.

And of the many orders? Nine orders were canceled, one from a firm going out of business, and one from a company no longer in need of the garments.

When asked by a reporter his feelings on the month of January, Kip said a letter he received from a small hardware dealer put the whole thing in perspective-

"We received your letter and can feel for you. Had a home fire and lost my wife and oldest child several years ago..."

Little did they know at the time that Protexall would operate out of the Skinner Paint building for five years.

In 1964, at age 41, Kip was one of the youngest and most dynamic business leaders in all of Galesburg. His own standards of excellence caused him to turn down new customers for two and one-half years.

The size of the building and the now outdated machines restricted him in output. The strongest selling point of the company was a 10-day delivery promise, including all personalization. The old paint building couldn’t maintain this pace and accommodate new orders or growth.

An engineering firm, Dynamics Methods Corporation of Red Bank, New Jersey, was consulted for advice. After eight months of study their decision was that it would be best for Protexall to build from scratch.

While looking for a new site to build his new Protexall plant, Kip was besieged with offers form other communities and states. These offers included promises of free land and buildings but Kip wasn’t swayed, stating, "We fee the Galesburg area was the birthplace of Protexall, and the company should expand at home rather than migrate.

The new building would have 36,000 square feet of space, triple the size of the old plant. Offices and the cafeteria take up 6,000 feed, the additional 30,000 was for manufacturing and distribution. This was to be the first completely air-conditioned industrial facility in the region. As always, employee comfort and satisfaction was the rule.   But Kip didn’t stop there. Always looking to the future he automated the sewing floor with the installation of current state of the art sewing machines. A training school was set up to teach operators how to handle the new machines and methods. Several cutting tables 96 feet long replaced the 40 foot boards used previously.

All the new features would create output exceeding two and one-half times that of the old plant. This would lower production costs with the savings passed on to the customer.

An open house for the new plant at 77 South Henderson Street was held May 24, 1964. After touring the facility a sewing machine executive stated that Protexall was "approaching the sewing room of tomorrow."

Protexall now employed 90 people with the hope of adding 40 additional jobs by the end of 1965.

Laurin Stacy joined the Protexall Sales Department on July 2, 1967.

Larry Williams joined the firm on June 21, 1971, as Plant Manager. Larry’s entire adult life had been spent in upper management with notable companies such as Oberman, Levi Strauss, H.D. Lee, Vanity Fair, and Lion Uniform to name a few. Larry’s experience included sales, finance, manufacturing, engineering, fabrics, etc. He had started up plants and had been involved in the purchase of several plants and companies.

In 1971 Larry was elected by the Board of Directors to serve as Vice-President of Manufacturing with Bill Dredge as Vice-President of Sales.

In 1976 Carrol (Kayo) Norris resigned from Protexall and sold his interest in the corporation to Mr. Dredge and Mr. Williams.

Mr. Donald "Joe" Deets joined the Protexall sales force on October 3, 1977.

By 1983 Protexall, in placing emphasis on unexcelled quality and delivery at a fair price, had expanded several national accounts resulting in additional millions of dollars of sales. Protexall had been considering the idea of expanding again and the growth of these accounts helped finalize their decision, which was-enlarge our facility.

This expansion would provide an additional 14,000 square feet of plant space. Construction work would be done on the two existing buildings to join them together.

The Main Street building would be improved with a new roof and air conditioning. This additional space would be used for patterns, cutting, and raw materials storage.

The new addition to the Henderson Street plant would be used to improve distribution. To this end, a modern conveyerized order processing system was added. Also, computerized sewing and design equipment were planned and purchased.

The expansion and increased work space created 25 new jobs.

By 1986, Kip wanted to relax and travel. On December 31, 1986, he assumed title of Chairman of the Board and semi-retired. The Board elected Larry as President effective October 1, 1987. Patricia (Pat) Douglas was promoted to Plant Manager. Joe Deets was promoted to Sales Manager.

J.W. Dredge passed away in September of 1987.

Kip began considering a buyer for the company. Offers were made consistently from several firms, many of them competitors. Willing to pay the price Kip asked, most firms stated they were interested in only the customer fields and in moving the work into their southern plants. Not one would give a guarantee of staying in Galesburg. They were not interested in the people, plant, or machines, what they wanted were our customers and experience.

Mr. Norris was unwilling to see years of hard work wasted, good people out of a job, and Galesburg without Protexall.

Someone else was interested in the company, too. Not a huge corporation this time, but a private individual.

Negotiations were begun with two banking groups controlling 53 banks around the Midwest. On June 1, 1988, papers were signed, stock changed hands, and Larry Williams became the sole owner of Protexall. Who says the American Dream isn’t alive and well?

Larry’s plans were clear. After having been associated for 17 years with, and helping build Protexall into the best manufacturer of industrial service apparel in America, the company was staying right where it was-and operating full steam ahead with no change in personnel.

Although people and products have changed in the past 100 years, one thing has always stayed the same. An article written in 1897 about the original Globe plant state it rather well, "The policy has always been to make nothing but strictly first class goods and to guarantee them to the trade at a reasonable price."

With a strong financial base, the best employees and customers in the world, Protexall, today an ultra-modern, high tech corporation with international sales, has launched itself into its second 100 years of manufacturing quality American made uniforms.