Button Factory in Guttenberg, Ia

[idesofmarch96]

I am not a button collector, but I would like to inform all you collectors of the fact that there were button factories in Guttenberg,Ia and that they made buttons out of shells from freshwater clams harvested from the Mississippi river. There are millions of shells on the shore of the river with holes in them from the factories cutting buttons.My kids have even found a few MISTAKE buttons that were rejected due to the button being too thin or whatever.

[svengali]

Quite a few button collectors are aware of the button making industry located in Iowa. The most famous town producing buttons there was Muscatine. There's a book out about that operation and many of the streets sparkle with bits of mother of pearl shells left over from button making there. Huge shell mounds are still found in Muscatine containing button errors and the huge shells with holes throughout from the button drilling process. Interesting to hear of another town in Iowa involved in button making as well. Thanks for sharing. -Carol C-

[thyra100]

Iowa was not the only state with a button industry. In Lamont, Michigan, west of Grand Rapids, there was also a factory. The town is tiny now--not even a grocery store. The factory was near where the town nursing home is now. We went there a few summers ago and found a shell with holes in it and some of the mistake buttons like those mentioned by idesofmarch. I hope to go back someday and find more artifacts. Button manufacturing is a fascinating part of business history to which more serious scholarly attention should be paid.

[svengali]

That's fascinating. Being from Michigan I wasn't aware of shell button factories in that state at all. In August, the NBS annual convention will be held in Grand Rapids. I wonder if the organizers of that event are aware that there's a button shell mound in Lamont?! If you care to share the address of the old factory location in Lamont, that'd be great. -Carol C-

[thyra100]

There's really no address. The factory is gone. I found out about the factory originally because there is (or was) a picture and some artifacts in an exhibit at the Oakwoods Metropark in Belleville, MI. When we initially went to Lamont, I asked a man mowing his lawn and he directed me to the road that goes past the nursing home. The first time we went it was in winter so we didn't even go to the riverbank. The second time we did walk down to the riverbank and found the items I mentioned. I didn't see a mound there but maybe I missed it.

[svengali]

Well, it's still interesting since most pearl button industries grew up around big rivers that had huge mollusk shells, such as the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. Is there some big river running thru Belleville? Just curious. -Carol-