One would be remiss, when writing about the industrial history of Bushnell, Illinois, to not mention Blue Bell, Inc. A second source has the name of the business listed as Blue Bell Overall Co. Information on the Bushnell factory has been hard to find. Some accounts of persons who worked there or had relatives or friends who worked there, conflict with other accounts written or spoken memories.
The Bushnell Blue Bell plant was a branch of Blue Bell, Inc., which was the world’s largest producer of work and sport clothes. The parent company claimed to be capable of producing over one million garments annually. The Bushnell facility, according to a 1954 publication, “Bushnell, Illinois,” said that the plan on East Barnes Street employed 80 persons, mostly women, but had the capacity to employ up to 200. The specialty of the Bushnell factory, at least at that time, was listed as “ladies and girls jeans.”
This writer could not determine exactly what year Blue Bell, Inc. started production in Bushnell. Ivan Zuck was manager of Blue Bell in Bushnell for many years, possibly 28 (some of those years may have been at the Abingdon plant). Zuck also worked at Midwest Control Products another 13 years as plant superintendent, and retired in 1980.
So, by doing the math, the Blue Bell plant in Bushnell, possibly could have been open as early as 1939-1940, or thereabouts.
Incidentally, in Ivan Zuck’s obituary, a third name for the plant is listed, Blue Bell Garment Factory. And Blue Bell is written as one word, Bluebell. Most other sources list it as being two words.
