HISTORY OF N.O. NELSON
For
years, the N.O. Nelson factory building, just outside of Edwardsville
Illinois, lay in ruins. However, in 2002, Lewis and Clark Community
College, in conjunction with the Edwardsville school district, planned a
large scale renovation of this historic building, converting it into a
teaching center for both the college and the high school. Recognized
by the State of Illinois as a registered historical marker, the N.O. Nelson
building has over a hundred years of heritage within its walls.
In 1877, the civil order of St. Louis nearly disappeared amongst clashes
between the laboring workforce and brutal business management. 12 hour
a day and 7 day workweeks may have resulted in huge profits, but it also
resulted in a turnover rate nearly 500% among the labor force. From
this turmoil, Mr. N. O. Nelson emerged, with business ideas nearly 100 years
ahead of his time.
Nelson originally founded his plumbing fixture company in St. Louis, but
quickly relocated to a tract of land just outside of Edwardsville.
There he constructed a company and a surrounding community with a unique
moral, labor, and social standards.
Mr. Nelson had quite unique ideals. Not only did he offer all of his workers
profit sharing, but he offered vacations, and flexible working schedules to
ensure all of his laborers were kept happy and healthy. The ideas and
comments of all of his workers were highly valued. Surrounding his
factory, he constructed affordable housing units for his workers.
There was even a greenhouse and dairy farm which offered free plants,
produce, and dairy products for all of the community. Mr. Nelson even
constructed a baseball and football field, bowling alley, tennis court, and
theater building for the community.
The N.O. Nelson Company, at one point, was the largest manufacturer of
plumbing goods for the Western United States. Sadly, the N.O. Nelson factory
produced its last product in 1948. The historic building was sold to
the Wagner Electric Corporation and was then abandoned in 1957. For
nearly half a century, the N.O. Nelson factory was vacant, and quickly
deteriorating; that is until its groundbreaking restoration in 2002.
MASONRY RESTORATION PERFORMED AT
N.O. NELSON
Plocher Construction, one of the contractors for the renovation, employed
James G. Staat Tuckpointing to restore the Nelson factory's 100+ year old
brick exterior. In the beginning, the building was nothing more than a
dilapidated shell. Most of the walls were falling down or severely
damaged, however, due to the historic nature of the building, Staat
Tuckpointing went to great lengths to preserve the building and restore it
to its original shape.
Because the brick on the structure were over one hundred years old, it was
tough to get a perfect match. We scoured every used brick-yard and
spent hours gathering what matches we could find. However, we still
could not round up enough brick that was necessary for the large amount of
reconstruction required. The resolve this challenge, the Staat
Tuckpointing crew actually disassembled sections of brick from the buildings
interior and relocated them to the exterior. The interior brick, which
was to be covered anyway, could then be replaced with new brick. This
allowed the Nelson building to be restored to perfectly match its original
design.
On top of a great deal of reconstruction, the entire building required
historical tuckpointing. Many portions of the building though, had
mortar caked over the face of the brick were improper tuckpointing attempts
had been made. This mortar was removed and the mortar joints were
grinded clean. Staat Tuckpointing then re-pointed the entire building
to match its original mortar color, type, and design. The brick were
then washed to brighten the appearance. However, the crews had to be
careful not to damage the delicate brick. This meant careful mixing of
all the cleaning chemicals as well as knowledgeable application.
The final step in the restoration process was to apply water-repellants to
the structure. James G. Staat Tuckpointing applied water-repellant to
thousands of square feet of the historic building, not only sealing in the
beauty of the restored masonry, but also ensuring the masonry will stay
beautiful for years to come.
|
|
(top three pictures; the
dilapidated shell of the original NO Nelson factory, 4th from top;
the newly reconstructed south south wall, reconstructed ornamental
brickwork, long shot of building after reconstruction, the newly
rebuilt west wall, the east wall and gate entry after
reconstruction) |
