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M.C. Lilley & Co. - Columbus, Ohio - Makers of Insignia


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Found this while browsing collar device online auctions, and thought I would share this for the future, as this is super cool! Here is the link for the current listing (this isn't me or anyone I know). I never really thought of the stuff used to make the insignia!

 

 

From the archives of MC Lilley and CE Ward -

 

 

Here is a stamp for the Ohio National Guard collar device:

 

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Here is a bit of history about M.C. Lilley & Co.

 

From modest beginnings in 1864, the M. C. Lilley & Company eventually became world renowned as manufacturers of regalia. The company was founded by four leading citizens of Columbus, Ohio - all veterans of the Civil War. They were Mitchell Campbell Lilley, John Siebert and brothers, Charles and Henry Lindenberg. All four men were members of the Odd Fellows and published the “Odd Fellows Companion”, a publication of the fraternal organization. Through this newsletter they received many requests from people wanting to purchase regalia. They decided to produce the items themselves and thus a company was born. The Lilley Company produced swords, banners, flags, emblems and uniforms for fraternal societies and organizations such as the Masons, Odd Fellows, and the Knights of Pythias, as well as police and military uniforms.

 

Beginning in a small building at 253 South High Street, the Company eventually grew to occupy several large buildings at the corner of East Long and North 6th Streets. Items produced by the Company can be roughly dated by the changes in the Company’s name. From 1865 to 1881 the name was the “M. C. Lilley & Co.”. In 1882 after the death Of Mr. Lilley the name changed to “The M. C. Lilley & Co.” and remained such until 1925 when it was shortened to “The Lilley Co.”. The Company was merged with the Henderson-Ames Company of Kalamazoo, Michigan in 1931 and the name was changed to “The Lilley-Ames Company” until 1951 when it was sold to C. E. Ward. It operated under the name of “Lilley Ames Co.” until 1953. It went out of business in 1965.

 

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M.C. Lilley & Company was another Columbus business that would benefit greatly as a manufacturer of ready-made uniforms after the war. By 1870, the company already occupied an entire four-story building on S. High Street, with a glass-fronted showroom and retail store on the first floor. This size of an operation positioned the company for tremendous growth and success in the coming "Golden Age of Fraternalism." During this period, from 1870-1910, over 20 percent of men in the United States belonged to a fraternal organization, which served various purposes such as mutual aid and insurance, political interests, social functions, and the comfort of stability and belonging in a dynamic post-war society that was rapidly industrializing. Clothing played a very important role in the ritual ceremonies for these societies, and M.C. Lilley & Co. capitalized on this influx of demand by manufacturing ritual costumes and attire. The most demanded and most comercially profitable form of military regalia, however, was the military-style uniform, which the company also produced for state militias, telegraph operators, and railway workers. In addition to the clothing for fraternal societies, the company also produced metal decorations and fasteners to embellish the garments, such as buttons, buckles, studs, and grommets, along with custom-designed suitcases to hold and store elaborate and odd-shaped artifacts, like feathered hats, shoulder epaulets, capes, and gauntlets.

This large-scale production of military regalia for fraternal organizations led to M.C. Lilley & Co. becoming one of the largest and most successful manufacturers in the world. In an 1882 story about Lilley's new building on Gay Street, the Evening Dispatch reported that more than two-thirds of the company's employees were engaged in producing clothing and regalia, inlcuding sewers, embroiderers, tailors, leatherworkers, and milliners. The 1887 Report of the State Inspector of Workshops and Factories listed The M.C. Lilley & Co. as the second largest employer in Columbus with 420 employees. Another report in J.A. Miller & Company's, A Glimpse at Columbus and her Industries, published in 1890, stated that the "M.C. Lilley & Co. regalia manufactory" was considered to be one of five "mammoth" manufacturing operations in Columbus and one of "the five largest manufacturing companies in the world...exporting its uniforms and equipment for military and other organizations around the world."

More information about M.C. Lilley, businesses in Columbus, and fraternal organizations and their uniforms can be found in Harriet Wain McBride's dissertation for her doctorate at Ohio State, Fraternal Regalia in America, 1865-1918: Dressing the Lodges; Clothing the Brotherhood.

The four founders:

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Here are more stamps from M.C. Lilley & Co. -

 

They obviously did ROTC insignia, too:

 

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Some more National Guard stamps:

 

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Here is an ordnance stamp, which is a totally different shape than the National Guard stamps:

 

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Here is a police belt buckle from the same era, made by Lilliey & Co.:

 

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Daughters of the Confederacy and Veterans of the Confederacy stamp:

 

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Here is the foundry pattern used to make the scabbard mount for a GAR sword:

 

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Foundry pattern for Daughters of the Confederacy Sword mount:

 

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From the archives of M. C. Lilley and the C. E. Ward Co., this is an original foundry pattern used to make Indian War-era spurs. The spurs would have been cast nearly flat and them bent to shapes in a large press. The foundry pattern is pewter.

 

 

 

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An original foundry pattern used to make a sand mold to cast the crossbar of a Navy Cutlass. This is a variant of Peterson #55 Navy Cutlass, model 1917. The foundry pattern is cast pewter.

 

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Here is a Hawaii police two-piece belt buckle made by Lilley & Co., and the page from their police uniforms catalogue showing the same buckle!

 

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This is a stamp for a button with the Virginia State Seal on it. Notice that they have "Virginia" stamped on the rim so that you could ID what button stamp you had!

 

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Infantry collar device stamp (look at the cool detail):

 

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Foundry pattern for scabbard mount for Nevada National Guard Sword:

 

 

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Railroad button:

 

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American Legion watch fob:

 

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Their label from inside Army jacket (so . . . anyone ever had one of these in their collection? Feel free to post!)

 

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Back stamps from buttons:

 

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Engineer insignia on card:

 

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Also . . . a member posted pictures of a Lilley catalogue back in 2009! Click this link to see them:

 

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/46528-lilley-ames-military-tailors-uniform-and-insignia-catalog-1942/

 

 

(Thanks, kyhistorian01 )

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If anyone has other items they want to add, feel free to do so! Just htought a bit of info about a military insignia maker and some pictures of their items would be fun to see! I always enjoy seeing where the items came from originally. And kyhistorian01's catalogue is super cool! Even has fabric examples for the uniforms!

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  • 3 years later...

I've recently gotten interested in M.C. Lilley & Co after buying an M1902 Sabre for Army Officers... in trying to precisely date the sabre, I've seen two different marks for "The M.C. Lilley & Co" era, 1882-1925.  The M1902 was introduced in 1902, so somewhere in the 23 year history these two marks were used, with the main difference being the fully spelled "Ohio" vs. the initial "O."

 

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Neither picture by me, but I do now own the sabre in the lower photo with the "O."

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