The Addressograph Company was founded on February 15, 1896 by Joseph S. Duncan and John B. Hall in Chicago, Illinois. Mr. Duncan had invented his first addressing machine in 1892 in Sioux City, Iowa. He moved to Chicago a year later, and began the manufacture of the machines. Its industry was data writing, office duplicating, printing from type, and lithographic machines, and its headquarters were in Chicago, Illinois (1896-1930), Cleveland, Ohio (1930-1978), Los Angeles, California (1978-1981) and back to Chicago (1981-1996).
On April 7, 1924, the Addressograph Securities Company was formed as a holding company. Its name was changed to Addressograph International Corporation in 1929. A year later, Addressograph International and its subsidiaries merged with the American Multigraph Company, a firm started by J. S. Duncan in 1902. The company filed for bankruptcy in April 1982 and reorganized in October 1984. Although the firm became profitable by 1986, it starting declining soon after and was forced back into bankruptcy in 1993. After selling off many of its units, AM International was bought out by a Cincinnati-based investor group in 1996. Its Multigraph division, based in Mt. Prospect, Illinois, succeeded AM and changed its name to Multigraph, Inc.
COMPANY NAMES[]
- Addressograph Company (1896-1930)
- Addressograph-Multigraph Corporation (1930-1979)
- AM International, Inc. (1979-1996)
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