Events

1914 Carpentersville Grain Accident

On December 23, 1914, a grain-related industrial accident at the Carpentersville plant of the Els. Iron Bolt Co. killed at least one worker and caused an estimated $50,000 in property damage. The incident was reported in the Chicago evening tabloid *The Day Book* in its last edition of that date, appearing among regional news briefs. It stands as one of the more consequential industrial accidents recorded in the Carpentersville area during the WWI Era.

Scanned newspaper page from Image 30 of The day book (Chicago, Ill.), December 23, 1914, (LAST EDITION), 1914-12-23 (Library of Congress, Chronicling America)
Scanned newspaper page from Image 30 of The day book (Chicago, Ill.), December 23, 1914, (LAST EDITION), 1914-12-23 (Library of Congress, Chronicling America) | Source: Library of Congress, Chronicling America

Date & Context

The accident occurred on December 23, 1914, during a period of active industrial activity across the Fox River Valley. Carpentersville and the neighboring city of Elgin supported a variety of manufacturing concerns in the early twentieth century, and grain handling or processing operations were not uncommon as ancillary activities at larger industrial plants.

The Els. Iron Bolt Co. operated a plant in or near the Carpentersville–Elgin area; the precise address of the facility has not been independently confirmed beyond the brief notice in The Day Book. The exact nature of the grain accident — whether an explosion, fire, structural failure, or other incident — is not specified in the available source. The $50,000 in reported property damage (equivalent to a substantial sum in 1914 dollars) suggests a serious structural or fire-related event rather than a minor operational mishap. (Source: the_day_book_chicago_1914-12-23_ed-1_seq-30)

Participants

Fatality

  • Hans Remb — Identified in The Day Book only as an "employe" of the Carpentersville plant, Remb was killed in the accident. No further biographical details — age, place of origin, next of kin, or length of employment — are provided in the known source. Additional records, including Kane County or Cook County death records for late December 1914, may yield further information. (Source: the_day_book_chicago_1914-12-23_ed-1_seq-30)

Operator

  • Els. Iron Bolt Co. — The company operating the affected plant. The name as it appears in The Day Book may reflect an abbreviation or a transcription artifact of the original printed text; the full legal name of the firm has not been independently verified through other surviving records at this time. The company's relationship to other Elgin-area industrial concerns of the period is not currently established.

Significance

The 1914 Carpentersville grain accident is notable for several reasons within local history:

1. Human cost. The death of Hans Remb represents one of the recorded workplace fatalities in the Carpentersville vicinity during the early industrial era. Worker safety regulations in Illinois were limited in 1914, and industrial accidents of this kind were distressingly common across the Fox River Valley manufacturing corridor.

2. Economic impact. The reported $50,000 in property damage was a considerable loss for any single facility in this period and would likely have disrupted operations at the plant significantly, potentially affecting local employment.

3. Source limitations. Because the accident is documented only through a brief news brief in The Day Book — a Chicago tabloid known for condensed regional coverage — many details remain unknown. Local Carpentersville or Elgin newspapers from December 1914, if digitized or held in archival collections, may provide fuller coverage. Researchers are encouraged to consult the Dundee Township Historical Resources page for guidance on archival access.

Sources

This page was created from a single newspaper notice. Details regarding the exact cause of the accident, the full name and history of Els. Iron Bolt Co., and the biography of Hans Remb remain unconfirmed. Contributions from researchers with access to Kane County death records, Elgin city directories, or contemporaneous local newspaper coverage are welcome.