{"id":2087,"date":"2018-09-18T13:12:48","date_gmt":"2018-09-18T18:12:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.greatriver.com\/wordpress\/?p=2087"},"modified":"2018-09-18T13:24:02","modified_gmt":"2018-09-18T18:24:02","slug":"we-explore-a-pearl-button-factory-sealed-in-1956-come-visit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.greatriver.com\/wordpress\/we-explore-a-pearl-button-factory-sealed-in-1956-come-visit\/","title":{"rendered":"We Explore a Pearl Button Factory sealed in 1956. Come Visit!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Kari Anderson (karipearls.com) recently shared this story of her visit to a fascinating Pearl Button\u00a0factory which once operated\u00a0in Muscatine, Iowa! Thank you, Kari!!<\/p>\n

Muscatine once had the title of\u00a0\u00a0“Pearl Button Capital of the World!” and this pearl button factory is actually a time capsule of that long-past era. In 1956 the owners said the last good byes to their employees and locked the door!<\/p>\n

With flashlights in hand,\u00a0Kari climbed the dark stairways.\u00a0At least 2 floors of the Schmarje building were dedicated to the Ronda Button Company and the Schmarje family had the foresight to leave this factory basically untouched for over 60 years – what a blessing! for those of us interested in this local history.<\/p>\n

At least 2 floors of the Schmarje building were dedicated to the Ronda Button Company. The Schmarje family had the foresight to leave this factory basically untouched for over 60 years – what a blessing! for those of us interested in this local history.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Button Cutter<\/strong><\/p>\n

These machines zipped through tons of shells, cutting blanks for buttons.\u00a0Muscatine also has\u00a0a local\u00a0pearl button museum which has a movie visitors can watch showing workers quickly slipping shells into\u00a0shell cutters so blanks can be cut out from them. (It looked dangerous\u2026)<\/p>\n

The new type of button cutting machine, featuring a carbide-toothed saw operating on a vertical shaft enabled workers at the Ronda Button plant to produce top grade blanks at a faster rate than was possible by older methods.<\/p>\n

The local pearl button museum has a movie visitors can watch showing workers quickly slipping shells into these cutters so blanks can be cut out from them. (It looked dangerous\u2026)<\/p>\n

I saw how shells would arrive at the plant\u00a0by the tons<\/b>\u00a0in burlap sacks.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nButton Blanks<\/b><\/center>Shells would come not only from the\u00a0Mississippi River<\/b>, across the street, but from lots of sources including the\u00a0Minnesota, Arkansas, White and Tennessee Rivers<\/b>.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nMachines Lined the Walls<\/b><\/center>There were old burlap sacks\u00a0bursting their seams<\/b>\u00a0with buttons blanks that never made it to the finishing factories\u2026but lay here as a reminder to all of us of the immense work and effort that went into making buttons for our shirts and skirts.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nFinished “Pearl” Buttons made in Muscatine<\/b><\/center>I hope you enjoyed the\u00a0little mini tour<\/b>\u00a0of our local time capsule.<\/p>\n

Here I am sharing for\u00a0Pechkucha Night<\/b>\u00a0at our\u00a0local museum<\/b><\/a>\u00a0about my pearling adventures.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nMe speaking at Muscatine Button Museum “Around the World in 80 Carats!”<\/b><\/center>An interesting bit of trivia:\u00a0guess who<\/b>\u00a0at one time stayed here in Muscatine, IA?<\/p>\n

The current president of China,\u00a0Xi Jinping<\/b>! As a young man he was an exchange student here.\u00a0His presence here in Muscatine, has developed a unique relationship between\u00a0Iowa and China<\/b>. Our former governor, Branstad, is now the ambassador to China.<\/p>\n

God bless,<\/p>\n

Kari<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kari Anderson (karipearls.com) recently shared this story of her visit to a fascinating Pearl Button\u00a0factory which once operated\u00a0in Muscatine, Iowa! Thank you, Kari!! Muscatine once had the title of\u00a0\u00a0“Pearl Button Capital of the World!” and this pearl button factory is … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.greatriver.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.greatriver.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.greatriver.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.greatriver.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.greatriver.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2087"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.greatriver.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2087\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2093,"href":"http:\/\/www.greatriver.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2087\/revisions\/2093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.greatriver.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.greatriver.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.greatriver.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}