The above photo is of Virgil Coari and other employees in front of the M. Linkman & Co. factory. This is one of those absolute treasures that I have been hoping to find for years! Finding this photo, and the W2 Income Tax form below, all came about when I bid on some pipes offered By Mike Johnson, who in his auction description mentioned the old pipes may have belonged to his Grandfather, Virgil Coari.

When I saw that in the description, I could not send Mike a message quick enough! Could he possibly have photos or information about the old Linkman factory that produced Dr. Grabow pipes? I have long dreamed of finding something like this to help tell the story of the old Linkman's pipe factory and to give some life and personality to it. After countless unfruitful searches on the Internet to find relatives connected to the factory, through a name found here and there, that led to no where, I had just about given up hope of finding someone who might have first-hand knowledge of the operations or possessed photos of the factory and/or of the employees who worked there. This was a rare opportunity and I wasn't about to let it slip away without at least making a try.

To ensure this information that I have watermarked the photos with can be found Internet searches by those doing genealogy research, etc., I will repeat some of it here. In talking about the photo, Mike said this, "I guess if you could put the peoples names: Yola, Anita, Agnes, --dont know their last names-- and Virgil Coari . . . and Aug 1945 it may help someone somewhere in a genealogy search. A credit source could be something like Johnson/Coari family. Unfortunately my Mom and Aunt were young and don't really remember much. My Great Aunt (who also worked there) that just passed was the last of that generation."

Mike added, "From what I know Grandpa, Grandma, her sister and probably several other family members worked there in the late 30's early 40's. They are pretty sure grandpa worked there till the early 50's when the factory closed. His job description, they say he worked on the "line" and dont remember much else. My mom and aunt do remember talk about the union coming in, but nothing specific.

"The pic is my grandfather in August of 1945. My Mom thinks at least one of the ladies who was a relative also worked at Linkman's so she says this is probably the factory."

After looking at other photos of the factory, IT INDEED, WAS THE FACTORY! I have to admit that I didn't recognize that doorway to the factory as IT LOOKED HUGE IN THE BACK GROUND BEHIND THE PEOPLE. All I had seen of it had been views like these: http://www.drgrabow-pipe-info.com/grabow_factory09aa.html, so I never realized that that entryway was as large as it is! Mike replied, "The door might not be that big, Grandpa was only about 5 feet tall......"

I found it interesting that one of the light fixtures by the entry looks like it's missing both the globe and the light bulb.

Mike had also done a bit of research and added this nugget of info, "I found this poking around on Facebook:
Dr. Grabow pipe sales continued to increase and in October of 1944, the Dr. Grabow Pipe Co. was formed and incorporated. Its founding incorporators included Richard J. Dean,(( Angelo Pinasco)), and Harry A. Shapiro. The corporate address remained in the M. Linkman building on W. Fullerton.

"Angelo Pinasco was my grandmothers uncle (her father's brother). He owned the 3 flat where they all lived. I saw somewhere the address for Angelo, and notice its the same as Grandpa's w-2 {pictured below!!!}. There is a picture of Angelo, but my mom cant find it since using it as part of a collage for my great Aunts funeral last month."

As I mentioned above, Mike also provided his Grandfather's W-2 shown above. To me, this is another fantastic item pertaining to the history of MLC and Dr. Grabow pipes. There is much I still don't know, like what position Virgil worked in, whether he was salary or hourly, how much overtime he might have worked if salaried, etc., but I did quickly divide the total by the number of weeks and days based on a five-day week and eight hour days in an attempt to find an hourly rate of pay for that period. Of course, nothing definitive could be derived from that exercise, but oddly enough I just happened to have MY Mom's W-2 and Income Tax form from 1943 and I can say she made considerably less making electronic components for the war effort than Virgil did working for Linkman!

My sincere thanks go to Mike and his Mom for sharing this bit of Dr. Grabow history with us. This sort of information make the website so much better and I am VERY grateful and deeply indebted!

Created November 9th, 2011, Last Updated November 9th, 2011 by R.J. McKay