Wrigley Chewing Gum Factory

What could be more Chicago than having a table built with thick wood planks that came out of the century-old Wrigley Chewing Gum Factory? We were lucky to get our hands on some of these historically significant, gorgeous wood planks back in the spring of 2016 by way of Kyle and Bob, two of our favorite wood suppliers. 

 The 175,000 square foot factory was built in 1911 and remained in use until 2005. When the Ashland Avenue plant was finally shuttered in 2005, it ended 94 years of Wrigley gum production in the Chicago city limits. The demolition of the factory began almost a decade later in 2014. Over the last six years, the demo was on again and off again, halting its full demolition until  May 2020. Maybe we’ll be lucky to track some of the rest of this wood down for future furniture. 

In addition to being the owner of the Chicago Cubs beginning in 1921—almost a century ago—Wrigley contributed a great deal to bringing direct marketing and large-scale advertising campaigns into the 20th century. He had a simplistic business mantra worth sharing,  “Make a good product for a fair price, then tell the world.” I like that, very much.  

Today, that old Wrigley wood has a new life at Stanford University, which interestingly opened in 1891 just 20 years before the Wrigley factory was built. In 2016, we made these thick-top tables for their student teaching kitchens, and we continue to work with them on projects to this day. 

We just hope the students don’t put chewing gum on the bottom of those tables ...