page_title: Horween Leather Company
section_title: 1905–48
hierarchical_section_title: Horween Leather Company / History / 1905–48
caption_attribution_description: English: Isidore Horween and family, including Ralph Horween and Arnold Horween. The father and sons worked in the Horween Leather Company.
context_page_description: Horween Leather Company is an American company specializing in the manufacturing and refining of leather and related products. It is one of the oldest continuously running tanneries in the United States of America. Since its founding in the early 20th century it has been located in Chicago.
  Isadore Horween founded the company in 1905, and worked in it until 1949. His two sons, Arnold Horween and Ralph Horween, became executives of the company and worked in it after their careers as All American football players for the Harvard Crimson, and playing in the National Football League.
  Arnold's son Arnold Horween Jr. worked with it from 1953–2003, and his son Arnold "Skip" Horween III has worked with it since 1972. The fifth generation of Horweens, Nicholas Arnold Horween, has worked at the company since 2009.
  Horween Leather Company offers an array of tannages using primarily cowhide and horsehide, and also using smaller quantities of calf and bison hides. Its leather is used in a number of products including sports equipment, sports and casual footwear, bags, wallets, briefcases, belts, coats, jackets, and other apparel and accessories.
context_section_description: Isadore Horween (whose surname was originally Horwitz or Horowitz), who had learned the leather business in his native Ukraine, lived just outside Kiev, immigrated to the United States in 1893.  He obtained his first job at a tannery in the U.S. through a contact he made at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago.  For 12 years he worked in one of the then-two-dozen tanneries in Chicago.
  He founded I. Horween and Co. in 1905, and established it on Division Street in Chicago. At the time, Chicago was a major center of the meatpacking industry and a major rail hub.  The tanneries were built close to the source of raw materials. In 1911, Isadore Horween developed and produced Aniline Chromexcel, one of the company's most traditional tannages.
  The company's original focus was the production of razor strops, to sharpen razors used in shaving.  With the advent of the safety razor in 1912, however, the need for razor strops waned, and the company shifted its focus to other products.
  In 1920, the company moved to its current location in a five-story block-long factory at 2015 North Elston Avenue (at Ashland Avenue), on the Chicago River, in Chicago's Bucktown, on the north side of the city.  Isadore Horween had obtained the site, which remains the company's current location, by purchasing it from Herman Loescher and Sons tannery.  The company's name was eventually changed to Horween Leather Company.
  In 1921, the company's secretary and treasurer was Isadore's son Ralph Horween, during Ralph's career as a football player for the Harvard Crimson and before his career as a player and coach in the National Football League.  In 1945, he was still secretary of the company.
  In 1927, Horween Leather Company sold the tannery on Division Street, and consolidated its operations at North Elston Avenue.  In 1930, it developed mechanical leather, a very durable heavyweight leather for use in oil seals, gaskets, and engine seals.  In 1936, the company had 336 workers.
  In 1938, Horween Leather Company became the official leather supplier for U.S. Marine Corps water-resistant footwear during World War II.  It supplied Chromoexcel, which was used exclusively in the North African Campaign.  In 1941, it added a large addition to the tannery.
caption: Rose Horween, Ralph Horween, Arnold Horween, and Isidore Horween
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