Clayton Mark and Company was a manufacturer of steel pipe and water well supplies located in Evanston, Illinois

Evanston, Illinois

Evanston is a suburban municipality in Cook County, Illinois 12 miles north of downtown Chicago, bordering Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, and Wilmette to the north, with an estimated population of 74,360 as of 2003. It is one of the North Shore communities that adjoin Lake Michigan...

. The company was notable for creating Marktown

Marktown

Marktown is an urban planned worker community in East Chicago, Indiana, built during the Progressive Era in 1917 from marshland to provide a complete community for workers at The Mark Manufacturing Company. It was founded by Clayton Mark, a pioneer maker of steel in the United States...

, a planned worker village.

History

Clayton Mark founded Clayton Mark and Company in 1900 in Evanston Illinois to manufacture wrought steel pipe and water well supplies. Clayton Mark, along with his four sons Clarence Mark, Clayton Mark, Cyrus Mark, and Griffith Mark held various positions in the firm and made it a driver of Evanston’s economy. It was the single largest employer in the city, with overall sales exceeding $10,000,000 a year. Clayton Mark products were sold throughout the United States and many countries worldwide. For example, Mark’s forged steel unions (high pressure fittings) were used in oil wells from Texas to Arabia. The steel tubing manufactured at Clayton Mark and Company was used in the making of furniture, automobiles, and bicycles whose market was worldwide. Mark conduit was used in house construction for the conduction of electrical wiring. And Clayton Mark and Company’s water well systems, supplies, and devices were used for pumping water out of the ground in rural districts around the globe.

Clayton Mark and Company saw a decline in business during and after World War I, and was sold to Youngstown Sheet and Tube

Youngstown Sheet and Tube

The Youngstown Iron Sheet and Tube Company, based in Youngstown, Ohio, was one of the largest steel manufacturers in the world. Officially, the company was created on November 23, 1900, when Articles of Incorporation of the Youngstown Iron Sheet and Tube Company were filed with the Ohio Secretary...

in 1923.