Before February 1893, a large square of land was purchased from the former Keller-Wittbecker farm in East Freeport. Some of this land had recently been subdivided and platted as the "Arcade Addition". The Arcade Manufacturing Company had been in operation since 1885 when the previous Novelty Iron Works had gone out of business at the corner of Chicago and Jackson streets. That earlier company began as early as 1868. After the 1892 fire, the Arcade Manufacturing Company built an entirely new factory in the Arcade Addition of East Freeport, where they produced coffee mills and other metal products.