Collegiate Manufacturing advertisement from the 1964 Ames Community Historical Booklet
Collegiate Manufacturing advertisement from the 1964 Ames Community Historical Booklet
Collegiate Manufacturing Company began in 1904 as Tilden's, making college and school pennants, banners, sportswear, stuffed toys, laundry bags, and many other items of felt cloth and leather. At peak production, Collegiate employed more than 150 employees, and produced over 2,000 stuffed animals a day, selling to a fifty-state market as well as an overseas market. The silk screen processing department printed as many as 2,500 shirts daily
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1944 view of the 3rd floor loft sewing room in the Lechner Building, which was located immediately west of the Collegiate Manufacturing building at the corner of Douglas and 5th Street (originally the Masonic Building). The two buildings were connected by an overhead enclosed walkway.
North elevation drawing of the Lechner Building
This structure was originally built for Tilden
Manufacturing Company.
Lechner Building pictured in March of 1954
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1944 basement break room view of Collegiate Manufacturing employees
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1949 advertisement in the Ames City Directory
Inserting the stuffing in the Collegiate Pets, late 1950s
Those watching are, from left: Kirk Foster (sales representative for the southeast US), Don Waller (west coast), Andy Christensen (eastern midwest), John Cotton (southwest), Pete Hall (northeast), and Harry Tysseling (midwest).