National Register of Historic Places

Pope Brace Company Building

Kankakee, Kankakee County, Illinois
Listed
September 1, 2021
Type
Building
Period
Industrial
Ref No.
100006866

About this property

The Pope Brace Company Building is a historic industrial building at 197 South West Avenue in Kankakee, Illinois. The building was constructed in 1922 for the Paramount Knitting Company, which was founded in Kankakee in 1893 by Henry Pope Sr. It originally housed the Paramount Textile Machinery Company, a subsidiary of the knitting company which manufactured and fixed its machinery, and the experimental division of Bear Brand Hosiery, its most popular product line. After Pope's daughter Margaret was diagnosed with polio, he established the Pope Brace Company to develop an improved leg brace for her and other polio patients, and it conducted its research in the building. The company developed the Klenzak brace, which was named for machinist John Klenzak; its use of hollow steel made it both lighter and more affordable. Pope's work introduced him to future U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1926, whose physician team convinced him to explore hydrotherapy treatments for polio. This led to the company building the Hubbard Tank, a mass-produced hydrotherapy tank named for engineer Carl Hubbard. The company continued to manufacture these devices and other medical equipment in the building until 1979, when their operations were moved to South Carolina. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 1, 2021.

Location

197 South West Ave.
Kankakee, Kankakee County, Illinois

Categories

HEALTH/MEDICINEINDUSTRY
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Questions about this property

When was Pope Brace Company Building listed on the National Register?

Pope Brace Company Building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 1, 2021.

What type of historic resource is Pope Brace Company Building?

Pope Brace Company Building is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Pope Brace Company Building?

The period of significance for Pope Brace Company Building is recorded as the industrial era.

Can I research the history near Pope Brace Company Building?

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