This firm was created by Edwin Benjamin sometime during 1886 to 1888, following the dissolution of Benjamin & Fischer. It appears that Benjamin briefly continued operating in Chicago but then moved to South Evanston.

Information Sources

• An article in the April 15, 1885 "Wood and Iron" journal mentions Edwin Benjamin, inventor of a band mill made by Benjamin & Fischer of Chicago.
• From The Railroad, Telegraph, and Steamship Builders' Directory, 1888: a listing under wood-working machinery for "Benjamin & Co., 17 S. Canal st., Chicago, Ill." There is a separate listing for "Benjamin & Co., South Evanston, Ill."
• From patent records: 1889 and 1890 patents were assigned to this company. The inventor, Edwin Benjamin, also received patents spanning 1884 to 1892. Patents were related to planing machines.
• The 1891 book, Illinois Historical Survey carried this paragraph:

  The Benjamin Machine Company's block or combination shop, warehouse and apartment building, extending from State to Dearborn and from Thirty-fourth to Thirty-fifth streets, was designed by J. H. Wagner in June, 1890. The idea of this combination building is Chicagoan, and the plans show a structure of brick, stone and iron, architectural in every line without the least indication of the great machine shop in the basement existing.

• The Evanston Directory of 1894 carries an ad: "The Benjamin Machine Co. / Manufacturer of / Triumph Planing Machines / Wood-working machinery, / Pulleys, Shafting, Hangers, Shaving Blowers, etc."
• An online biography of David Joyce, taken in turn from a 1906 article in American Lumberman, mentions that Mr. Joyce was president of the Benjamin Machine Co.