Des Plaines Publishing Company Building

What a cool sign!

The Des Plaines Journal reported Wednesday that demolition was underway at the old Des Plaines Publishing Company building, vacant only a little more than a year. You might not recognize this building - it was at 1000 Executive Way, directly behind the Post Office and Grazie! on Oakton. This building was by no means a landmark or anything really worth saving, but it was a more or less handsome building. I stopped by to take some pictures a couple of months ago; I also have some pictures pulled from Des Plaines Publishing's old website.

The Des Plaines Publishing Company traced its roots back to the start of the Des Plaines Suburban Times (or, rather, its predecessor) in 1885. In 1967 it moved to Executive Way from Pearson Street, next to the phone company building. The building's architect was Ervin F. Baur. In 1977 it was purchased by James Linen IV. In 1994, the eight newspapers it ran, The Des Plaines Times, the Mount Prospect Times, the Rosemont Times, the Elk Grove Times, the Edison-Norwood Times Review, Park Ridge Times-Herald and the Niles Times-Herald were sold to Pioneer Press, and Des Plaines Publishing continued as a printing company. On April 30, 2007, the company's printing assets (not the building) were purchased and renamed Des Plaines Printing. Just under a year later, on April 7, 2008, it was announced that the company would be rebranded with its corporate parent, move to its parent's facilities in Buffalo Grove, and, inexplicably, take the name John S. Smith of Des Plaines (even though it was in Buffalo Grove?). It looks like, in the year since, they've stopped using the "of Des Plaines". To me it seems a little odd to tear down a building that has only been vacant a year, but it didn't really have location going for it.

See also: School of the Art Institute of Chicago Recent Past Survey