Kilbourne & Clark Manufacturing Co. was a firm founded in 1899 by electrical engineer Walter Gordon Clark (1876-1950) and dentist-turned-promoter of electric power utilities Edward Corliss Kilbourne (1856-1959). Initially established to sell electrical machinery and supplies, the firm scored a long string of successes in making and marketing early radio equipment for the U. S. Navy, shipping, and broadcast receivers.
In this image a large group of Kilbourne & Clark employees pose outside the manufacturing facility, located at the time at First Avenue South and South Spokane Street in today's Sodo neighborhood. The only person identified in the image is Charles Wallace Peterson (1893-1972), an electrical engineer who may be the man standing second from the left edge of the frame, wearing a light-colored duster.
Handwritten on verso: Seattle June 1922, K&C Co., Radio Manufacturing. Handwritten on verso: Kilbourn & Clark Mfg Co, 1st & Spokane Streets Seattle, mfr. early radio equipment for Navy, shipyard and Broadcast receivers, in light duster coat - Charles W. Peterson, engineer and manager. Acc. 4571.
Handwritten on photocopy included with print: Employees of Kilbourn & Clark Mfg Co., 1st & Spokane Sts, Seattle. Manufacturers of early radio equipment for the Navy, shipping and broadcast receivers, 1921. Donated by Chas. W. Peterson, former engineer & manager (in light duster coat). Building now the Dutchman Restaurant. (WLG Jan 1969).
Caption image source: "Kilbourne, Edward Corliss (1856-1959)," by Louis Fiset, Green Lake Park Alliance, HistoryLink.org Essay 1251 Caption information sources: The Seattle Daily Times, "Seattle Men Get Many Wireless Contracts", October 19, 1915; and "Clark, Inventor of Pulmotor, Dies," December 19, 1950
ID Number: 1969.4571.1
Date: 1922
Physical Description: 1 photographic print : b&w ; 17.75 x 10 in.
Additional Information: Digital copy of this item available thanks to funding from a 2016 Institute for Museum and Library Services grant. Metadata updated as part of a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services administered by the Library Services and Technology Act, through the Washington State Library, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State.
