For over 100 years the McKee Button Factory in Muscatine Iowa has been in the button business. Recently though, the company quietly ceased operations and now the historic building is up for auction. It seemed to me like a good time to get a sunset shot of this iconic local landmark that I pass by almost everyday.
James McKee and his brother-in-law William Bliven went into the button business together in 1895 when they established the Peerless Button Company. The company changed its name to McKee and Bliven Button Company in 1897 and established the factory at 1000 Hershey Avenue in 1907. Since 1926 it has operated as the McKee Button Company.
Muscatine, for those that may not know, was once regarded as the epicenter of pearl button manufacturing, where Mississippi river clam shells were harvested to make pearl apparel buttons. By 1905 local factories produced 1.5 billion pearl buttons annually. With nearly 37% of the worlds buttons coming from Muscatine, the town became the undisputed Pearl Button Capital of the World.