Chicago’s street names are a collection of local, national and international people and places. However there is one street, Agatite Avenue, which has baffled Chicago historians, including the authors of the 1988 comprehensive volume, Streetwise Chicago, Don Hayner and Tom McNamee. Their conclusion was the name might have been the Latin suffix “ite” added to “agate” or someone misspelled the word “apatite”, a calcium phosphate. The mystery has been solved!
Agatite Avenue is located 4443 North and runs from 800 West (Halsted Street) to 8699 West.1
The street is named after a gypsum-clay cement that was manufactured by the Agatite Cement Plaster Company of Kansas City, MO.
Kansas City Journal, February, 1, 1893
AGATITE.
An Important Salina Industry. A Company Organized For It Exclusive Sale.
The Agatite Cement and Plaster Company, with a capital stock of $25,000, filed articles of incorporation yesterday. The capital stock is divided into 250 $100 shares, which are held by the following incorporators: C. A. Brockett, of Kansas City, eighty-three shares; S. H. McCutcheon, of Kansas City, one share; William Dickinson, of Chicago, eighty three shares, and C. W. S. Cobb, of St. Louis, eighty-three shares.
This company is organized for the sole purpose of handling Agatite Cement Plaster manufactured by the Salina Cement Co. at their mills at Dillion Kansas. Mr. C. A. Brochett is president of the C. A. Broehett Cement Co.. of Kansas City and Mr. C. W. S.Cobb is president of the Glencoe Lime and Cement Co. of St. Louis. Mr. Wm. Dickinson, is the senior member of the firm of Dickinson Brothers & King, Chicago. New York and New Orleans. All of these firms are the largest in their line in their respective cities. The superiority of Agatite over all other plasters is claimed by its friends and acknowledged by experts and it is not surprising that the above named gentlemen of large experience and knowledge in their line of business should be quick to organize a company for its exclusive sale. Agatite, as is well known, is not a patent but a natural plaster and in this case nature by placing in the earth near Dillion a very large deposit from which Agatite is made has far exceeded the ingenuity of man. Other deposits of similar nature or character have been found but careful and critical tests have proved that they were lacking in part or all of the essential qualities and with one or two exceptions to be entirely worthless as a plaster or to be no better than the old lime mortar. In this connection the following from the pen of Prof. Edwin Walters, a scientific writer, as published in the Kansas City Journal Jan. 29th will be of interest.
- I have lately had submitted to me a sample of a material that I have found very interesting. It is from the neighborhood of Dillon, Dickinson Co. Kas.
The deposit from which the sample was taken is said to cover an area of eighty acres to a depth of thirty feet. On this assumption, there are nearly 6,000,000 tons.
Some four years ago I examined and described in the columns of the Kansas City Journal some tests made of some material sent me from near Gypsum City, Saline county Kansas.
I then predicted that this material would be found very useful for various structural purposes. A little later it was named Acme cement plaster. It has had a wonderful sale and is now known to architects and builders from Maine to California.
The present sample from Dillon belongs to the same class of materials. The sample examined, however, is finer grained and of a more uniform consistency.
I understand that it has been decided to call this material Agatite. For convenience I will use this name in further describing it.
Agatite is of a light ash-gray color. Its natural consistency is about that of hard, plastic clay.
When calcined it assumes a pulverized form. When mixed with water it sets as does hydraulic lime or cement. There seems to be ample time between the mixing and the setting for the mortar to be applied to its intended use.
A sample of several weeks’ setting broke under a tensile strain of 370 pounds to the square inch, It may be safely said that in both tensile and compressive strength Agatite is fully one-half that of the very best Portland cement under the Neat test and equal under the part sand test. It is superior in strength to most of the hydraulic limes and ordinary cements. But inasmuch as Agitite is intended for interior work it is not necessary, that it should be of such great strength. It is very much stronger than lime and sand plaster, which is its principal competitor.
Agatite does not differ widely in composition from the cement taken from the famous Cheops Pyramid of Egypt. The Egyptian cement runs higher in sulphate of lime and lower in oxide of iron.
It is very improbable that a cement that would stand in the dry climate of Egypt would also prove durable in the United States. I only make the comparison to show that if the Agatite is kept reasonably protected from frosts and excessive moisture that it would last for ages. It has splendid adhesive qualities. It will stick to wood, stone or brick without the aid ol hair or any other substance.
It is not decomposed by any of the basic acids, however strong they may be, Alkalies do not affect it.
Besides being a choice material for plastering walls and ceiling it is admirably adapted to all kiuds of interior finish. When in the plastic state it may be embossed, stippled, drawn or moulded. Any design in bas relief may be- executed if prompt action is taken after mixing. The time allowed for execution is much greater than that for stucco, unless the stucco is mixed with glue or some retarder that is likely to cause decomposition.
Another superiority over stucco is its hardness. Not only does it allow much more time for execution, but it is very much harder after it sets.
Paper may be applied o either one or two coat work for a finish It is probable that one coat will be the best method. Paints may be added to Agatite mortar to give any desired color where paper is not desired. If a white finish is wished a putty or stucco coat may be applied on the surface of the Agatite.
This material is adapted tor wainscoting, interior arches and segments. for the back-filling and setting of tiles, for statuettes, etc., etc.—Edwin Walters.
The foregoing briefly touches of the merits and superiority of Agatite as a plaster and when it is possible to obtain it those who know of its superiority will use nothing else as it is but little, if anymore, expensive than the ordinary cheap lime plaster. Such institutions as the Salina Cement Plaster Co, with a capital of $150,000 used in its business are a credit to our state and Salina takes no little pride in being the headquarters of this company and that its managers are our own citizens and with the management the business will receive at Salina used in connection with the intelligence and experience employed at the mills Agatite wil be sought after by the dealers and builders.
- 1893 Columbian Exposition
Chicago.
Building and Construction and Superintendence by F. E. Kidder, C. E., P. H. D., Part One, 1900
Natural Cement Plasters.—In this class are the Acme, Agatite, Aluininite, Climax and Royal, the first and last names being perhaps the best known.
The earth from which these plasters are produced is found in various portions of Kansas and Texas. It is of a light ash-gray color and of about the consistency of hard plastic clay, which it much resembles in appearance, although its chemical nature is more like that of gypsum.
When calcined it assumes a pulverized form. When mixed with water it sets like hydraulic lime or cement, but much more slowly, so that ample time is afforded for applying the mortar.
A sample of agatite, after several weeks setting, broke under a tensile strength of 370 pounds per square inch. It is superior in strength to most of the hydraulic limes and natural cements.
The various deposits from which the plasters above mentioned are produced appear to be of about the same grade of earth, the plasters differing, if at all, only in their strength and working qualities, which is due principally to slight differences in the process of manufacture.
The Acme cement plaster is produced by calcining the natural earth at a high degree of heat (about 6oo° Fahr.), which rids the material of not only the free moisture, but also the combined moisture.
The resulting plaster is slow setting, works smooth under the trowel, and does not come to its normal strength until thirty or sixty days after it is spread.
These cement plasters are remarkable for their great adhesive quality. They will stick firmly to stone, brick or wood without the aid of hair or fibre. Acme cement has been used to some extent in New York for setting fireproof tiling, and has been found superior for this purpose to the ordinary natural cements.
Acme cement plaster was the first of this class to be put on the market. It has been extensively used throughout the country, and makes a very superior wall plaster. Large quantities of it were used in plastering the World’s Fair buildings, Chicago. Agatite and Royal, although more recently introduced, have also been quite extensively used, particularly on large and important buildings in the West. Climax is produced especially for the Southern trade
- 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition
St. Louis.
NOTES:
1 Office of the City Clerk Chicago Street Guide
My cousin lived on Agatite St. In Chicago in 1967.
I just finished reading A Parusienne in Chicago Impressions of the World’s Columbian Expostion by Madame Leon Grandin. She is wife of the artist Leon Grandin who came to Chicago to work on this sculpture. She mentions several times her husband was a classmate, colleague and good friend of MacMonnies