Carbide Cap Lamps/Maple City Marking

Carbide Cap Lamps

Maple City Marking.JPG - MAPLE CITY - Unfired Maple City lamp, screw on water door, regulated water feed,externally visible threads on base, 2 1/8 in. reflector with rolled edge, ca. 1912-13, marked on side THE MAPLE CITY LAMP; manufactured by Maple City Mfg. Co., Monmouth, IL who made lamps from 1911-1917; ex-Henry Pohs collection (The story of the Maple City lamps starts with the Soap Works factory, a huge four-story building covering one city block in Monmouth, IL constructed by William Hanna in 1900. One of the businesses that located in the building was the Maple City Mfg. Co., founded in 1904 to manufacture a can oiler. In 1907, the Soap Works business was sold to Proctor & Gamble who subsequently moved the business to Cincinnati. The Maple City Mfg. Co. continued in business at the site and incorporated during that same year with Ross Hanna, William Hanna's son, as president. In 1911, the company purchased the Soap Works building and the plant was known as The Can Factory. The Maple City Mfg. Co. added carbide lamps to their product line in 1911. During the next six years, the company produced a variety of distinctive lamps both cap lamps as shown here and a hand lamp. They also produced private label lamps to mine supply companies. Notable examples are the extremely rare Norleigh Diamond and Red Star lamps. The Can Factory was destroyed by fire in 1917 and was not rebuilt essentially ending the production of Maple City carbide lamps. The company moved to Peoria to make oilers and folding steel chairs but with little success declaring bankruptcy in 1920. The Maple City lamps are favorites of collectors and highly sought after. See Thorpe, Carbide Light, pp157-163 and Clemmer, American Miners' Carbide Lamps, pp 80-82)

Maple City Marking | MAPLE CITY - Unfired Maple City lamp, screw on water door, regulated water feed, externally visible threads on base, 2 1/8 in. reflector with rolled edge, ca. 1912-13, marked on side THE MAPLE CITY LAMP; manufactured by Maple City Mfg. Co., Monmouth, IL who made lamps from 1911-1917; ex-Henry Pohs collection (The story of the Maple City lamps starts with the Soap Works factory, a huge four-story building covering one city block in Monmouth, IL constructed by William Hanna in 1900. One of the businesses that located in the building was the Maple City Mfg. Co., founded in 1904 to manufacture a can oiler. In 1907, the Soap Works business was sold to Proctor & Gamble who subsequently moved the business to Cincinnati. The Maple City Mfg. Co. continued in business at the site and incorporated during that same year with Ross Hanna, William Hanna's son, as president. In 1911, the company purchased the Soap Works building and the plant was known as The Can Factory. The Maple City Mfg. Co. added carbide lamps to their product line in 1911. During the next six years, the company produced a variety of distinctive lamps both cap lamps as shown here and a hand lamp. They also produced private label lamps to mine supply companies. Notable examples are the extremely rare Norleigh Diamond and Red Star lamps. The Can Factory was destroyed by fire in 1917 and was not rebuilt essentially ending the production of Maple City carbide lamps. The company moved to Peoria to make oilers and folding steel chairs but with little success declaring bankruptcy in 1920. The Maple City lamps are favorites of collectors and highly sought after. See Thorpe, Carbide Light, pp157-163 and Clemmer, American Miners' Carbide Lamps, pp 80-82)

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