Numerous brief histories have been written about Arcade Manufacturing Company and its predecessor firms. This work synthesizes those accounts into a single historical narrative while acknowledging areas in which the surviving record is incomplete or contradictory. Where reliable sources disagree, those differences are presented rather than concealed, allowing readers to appreciate both the known history of the company and the uncertainties that remain.
Foundation
The earliest history of Arcade Manufacturing Company is not entirely consistent among surviving secondary sources. The Antique Coffee Grinder Store traces the company's origins to 1868 with the establishment of the Novelty Iron Works in Freeport, Illinois, owned by Charles and Edward Morgan and employing approximately ten men.
The National Museum of Arcade Cast Iron Toys, relying in part upon Freeport city directories, places the beginning between 1870 and 1872, identifying J. B. Hazen and E. H. Morgan as the proprietors of Hazen & Morgan Bros., likewise employing about ten workers. According to the museum, Hazen remained with the firm only briefly before pursuing other business interests.
These differences are not presented for pedantic purposes, but because they illustrate the challenges of reconstructing Arcade's earliest history. The enterprise evolved through successive partnerships, reorganizations, and name changes over more than a decade before Arcade Manufacturing Company was formally incorporated. Depending upon which stage of that evolution a historian regards as the true beginning, different founding dates naturally emerge.
The company quickly outgrew its original facilities, replacing them in 1874 with a substantially larger plant costing approximately $25,000. The new works included expanded foundry and machine shop capabilities, enabling the firm to broaden its manufacturing activities.
The chronology becomes less certain after this expansion. The Antique Coffee Grinder Store dates the adoption of the name Novelty Iron Works to 1877, while the museum chronology strongly suggests 1875. Both agree, however, that the company significantly expanded its product line to include pumps, windmills, iron storefronts, agricultural implements, feed grinders, and other cast iron products.
In 1877 Jacob Peter Easter (1836–1913), an experienced agricultural implement manufacturer and businessman, became a partner in the enterprise. Easter had already established himself in the manufacture and sale of farm machinery, making his admission to the partnership a logical step as Novelty Iron Works expanded its agricultural product lines.
Arcade Arrives
The museum further states that Novelty Iron Works ceased operations in 1884, succeeded by the New Union Manufacturing Company organized by E. H. Morgan, Charles Morgan, and Cyrus Tobias to manufacture coffee and spice mills. Other sources instead place the final reorganization in 1885, when Edward and Charles Morgan, together with Albert Baumgarten, incorporated Arcade Manufacturing Company. Although the new corporation continued operations at the existing works, the 1885 incorporation represents the true beginning of Arcade Manufacturing Company as a distinct legal entity.
The incorporation was completed on October 20. Company officers were Al Baumgarten, President, Cyrus Tobias, Secretary; E. H. Morgan, Vice President. “The name for the new company may quite possibly have come from Al Baumgarten, who for several years prior to partnering with the Morgans, operated a saloon and pool hall called ‘The Arcade.’”
That same year the company acquired the rights to a cork puller invented by the Morgan brothers, which became Arcade Manufacturing Company's first commercial product.
Between 1885 and 1893 the location of the Arcade factory moved around to several Freeport locations. Business was good, necessitating larger space which was found in East Freeport in 1891. On July 24, 1892 a massive fire destroyed the factory, claiming 40,000 coffee mills according to one report, supplies, equipment, work in progress, and inventory. The company found itself with 20,000 USD deficit.
In 1893, land was acquired from Keller-Wittbecker farm for a new factory, enabled in part by Loyal L. Munn whose infusion of capital made him a partner. In February of 1893, Arcade officials built a large factory at the new location, and would remain here until the plant closed in the 1950’s.
That same year a patent was granted to Charles for a coffee mill, a product for which the company was well known, producing many varieties for domestic and commercial use and miniature versions for children. The patent number was 461784.
The company’s continued need for more capital for growth was met by L. L. Munn, who in December of 1893, invested a large amount of money in the company, assuming the position of president. His son, L. L. Munn, Jr. also joined the company. E.H. Morgan served as vice president and secretary, and Charles Morgan treasurer and superintendent.
The company began production of small cast iron toys to use scraps of iron remaining after production of its main products. Some sources give the introduction of toys as between 1885-1900, but the precision of the museum account gives confidence that the cast iron toys were begun around 1895. However, production of toy coffee grinders may have begun as early as 1885.
In 1897, the company began production of wall mounted coffee mills. In 1900 Charles was granted another patent for a wall mounted coffee mill known as Crystal Number 1.
Arcade also demonstrated remarkable engineering leadership through the development of molding machines that reduced labor requirements in foundry operations. These machines became an important product line in their own right and were marketed internationally until the company's sale to Rockwell Manufacturing Company. Innovation thus extended well beyond coffee mills and toys. VintageMachinery.org documents seventy-seven patents associated with Arcade and its inventors, illustrating the breadth of the company's technical achievements.
1908 marked the introduction of animal banks, but the legendary Yellow Cab would not arrive until 1922. L. L. Munn died that year leaving the presidency to E. H. Morgan. Isaac Gassman, Munn’s son-in-law, assumed the role of secretary and sales manager for Arcade. Beginning in 1921 he invested in the toy catalogue which until that time was a small part of the business. The introduction of the licensed Yellow Cab marked the turning point in Arcade's toy business.
The Still Bank Club provides an interesting insight into this development:
“In 1921 Isaac P. Gassman went to Chicago to visit a friend who was a former resident of Freeport and, at the time, was president of Yellow Cab Company. The two men agreed that Arcade would manufacture a miniature copy of the well-known Yellow Cab. It was the first promotional toy to be built by Arcade, but the success was instantaneous.”
Until this point, toy sales constituted only 5% of revenues. By 1926 they reached 50% with nearly 1 million dollars in sales.
By 1927 Arcade employed approximately 450 workers and opened a new foundry, reflecting the company's continued growth during the interwar years.
With the deaths of Charles in 1920 and Edgar in 1928, the original founders were gone, leaving the senior management as: L. L. Munn Jr, President; BC Trueblood, vice-president; IP Gassman, secretary; and HF Zartman, treasurer. Its four largest departments were toys, household hardware specialties, molding machines, and cast brass and bronze refrigerator hardware.
In 1935 Arcade launched a line of inexpensive home tools, marketed as Arcade Craft Tools and Craftmaster. In 1941 it introduced Homecraft wood working machinery, the year it ceased toy production to manufacture war materiel such as armor plating.
Following the Second World War, Rockwell Manufacturing Company acquired Arcade for its foundry and machining capabilities. Manufacturing operations were subsequently relocated, and by 1953 the historic Freeport enterprise had effectively come to an end.
Focusing on toy production, we have already noted the toy coffee mill, but Arcade also produced stamped steel items for dolls. Cast iron banks were manufactured sometime between 1900-10 with 1908 being the most likely date. The museum article reports, “Soon after, the toy line grows to include several horse drawn toys. Other early toys include pile drivers, railroad wrecking cars, lawn mowers, miniature cook stoves, sad irons, wheelbarrows, windmills, pumps, floor trains, and jackstones.”
The museum article mentions the inclusion of “lion, seal, pig, buffalo, cow, rhinoceros, and rat.”
For collectors of early Arcade toys, Red Goose Bank is a prize, and one of the novelties of the Gassman era. The 1921 Yellow Cab Company license to produce taxicabs marked the turning point in the role of toys in the Arcade line-up is still a choice item for serious collectors. This toy was marked by a conscious decision by the board to create high quality realistic toys. For its brief duration in the toy business, it adhered to realism and quality which created a new market in the toy trade.
The museum history gives a couple more examples of signal toys from this period, one of which is the 1928 children’s book featuring the Arcadians. In 1929 the company manufactured only one of two steamboats it ever made, modeled after the one in the film Showboat, a film which would be produced 2 more times.
In 1933, Arcade produced a series of toys for the Chicago Century of Progress World’s Fair, which are identified with Century of Progress, Chicago, 1933 stenciled on them.
The Museum
Arcade produced its last toys in 1941 as it switched to manufacturing war materiel for the US government. After the war, the company produced power tools, but eventually ceased operations in 1954. But even before the company closed, Isaac Gassman donated its sizeable collection of toys to the Stephenson County Historical Society in Freeport, Illinois, which itself had only begun in 1944. The 1947 donation contained 300 toy samples collected over the years, including some prototypes.
Sometime after 1980, and sources are not precise, someone stole over half of the collection which had been on display in the society’s museum for decades prior. In a 2018 newspaper article, society director Sharon Welton was quoted to say that the toys are still in circulation, but that the society board of directors refused to pursue criminal charges against the perpetrators.
Further Research
The journey continues with our paid monograph on Arcade Manufacturing Company, its roots, founders, and innovations.
References
Bibliography
Antique Coffee Grinder Store. A Brief History of Arcade Manufacturing Company. Accessed July 2026. https://www.antiquecoffeegrinderstore.com/arcade-manufacturing-company-history
Arcade Toy Museum. Arcade Company History. Accessed July 2026.
C.O.C.A. Times. "Arcade Manufacturing Company." Vol. 10, No. 3 (November 2011). Coca-Cola Collectors Association. PDF edition.
FabTinToys. Arcade Manufacturing Company. Accessed July 2026. https://www.fabtintoys.com/arcade/
Journal-Standard (Freeport, Illinois). "Historical Society to Display 19th Century Toys." June 2, 2018.
Safe Bank Collector. Arcade Manufacturing Company. Accessed July 2026.
Still Bank Club. Arcade Manufacturing Company. Accessed July 2026.
VintageMachinery.org. Arcade Manufacturing Company. Vintage Machinery Manufacturer Index. Accessed July 2026.
WorthPoint / AntiqueToys.com. Arcade Manufacturing Company. Accessed July 2026.
