This business was in existence by 1868. In 1880, they bought out another local iron works, Harrison, McGaughey, and Depew; it is not known whether that firm made sawmill machinery. According to an article in The Minnesota Archaeologist Vol. 49, No. 1-2 1990, by 1885 it was "the largest foundry northwest of Chicago." By 1888 the Minneapolis sawmill industry had disappeared; the railroads purchased the large North Star property, and North Star moved to Griffith, Ind., a suburb of Chicago. In 1903 they relocated to a new foundry and machine shop in Hammond, Indiana.
Information Sources
- American Steam Engine Builders: 1800-1900 by Kenneth L. Cope, 2006 page 169
- From a 1903 issue of Foundry.
B. B. Potter, president of the North Star Iron Works, Griffith, Ind., has purchased a site at Hammond, Ind., and will erect a foundry and machine shop.
- From a 1903 issue of American Machinist.
The North Star Iron Works, of Griffith, Ind., founders, machinists and manufacturers, will remove about November 15 to their new plant at Hammond, Ind., where a general foundry and machine business will be conducted by the owners, B. B. Potter and R. Dodge.
- The 1913 book, Art History of Hammond, Indiana gives a passing mention of this firm.