Another kind of paint called ‘Kewanee Green’

The Walldogs visit turned up another interesting Kewanee mystery.

While photographing the work in progress on the mural for the Kewanee VFW Post, Ron Saey showed me an aerosol can of green paint. It wasn’t for the mural. Post members had found the while 13 ounce spray can, along with about 30 more, while cleaning out the basement of their building at 200 W. Fifth St.

There was “Kewanee” printed in big black letters over green circle indicating the color of the paint in the can. Ron said they had found some of the “Kewanee Green” paint used on Model A Ford in the 1930s. Earlier we had established a possible connection between a young man from Kewanee who worked at the Ford factory in Dearborn, Mich., and knew Edsel Ford and his founder-father, Henry. Their relationship may have been where the Fords came up with Kewanee when they named the green paint for their cars.

Taking a second look at the can, however, I noticed the Kewanee lettering looked like that used by Kewanee Machinery & Conveyor, and I was right. The company’s name and address were printed in small letters at the bottom of the back of the can. The back also reads “Exterior Genuine Spray Enamel” and lists application directions, safety instructions and a chemical breakdown of the contents.

Over “Kewanee,” written across the front in the same cursive script used on the large sign that once stood on the north end of the plant, are the words “Quality Farm Implements.” Inside the color sample circle and under the word “Green,” is what I first thought was a patent number, but turns s out to be a PART number — A-8423.

Anthony Strand, who grew up farming with Kewanee machinery, told us the company would give customers a can of touch-up paint to cover scratches and scrapes caused by wear.

Kewanee Machinery & Conveyor was best known for the disks, harrows and elevators they made. The primary color was red, but some parts were green. It would stand to reason that there were also cans of red spray paint distributed to their farm customers.

We can only speculate as to how the cans got in the basement of the VFW. Best guess is that a post member who worked at the plant on Burlington Avenue, now long closed, picked it up as it was being discarded and thought it might come in handy. Ron said the only thing around the post painted green, however, was the background of one of the VFW signs on the front of the building which was removed when they were sprucing up the property for the Walldogs visit.

Now we know ther’s a Model A Ford “Kewanee Green,” and a Kewanee Machinery & Conveyor touch-up green.

Some of the former employees out there may well remember the paint since it was apparently once part of the normal company inventory.

There’s no way of telling the age of the can. The address on the back has a ZIP Code which means it was manufactured after July 1, 1963. The addressing system went into effect 50 years ago this month. Kewanee Machinery & Conveyor closed in the 1980s, and that may have been when the cans were taken from the plant.

I would imagine that eventually, if not sooner, the VFW will discard the aerosol cans for safety reasons and possibly keep one or two for posterity, but it has been interesting to open a door on another part of the history of our city and farm implement manufacturing.