Clayton Mark

Clayton Mark (June 30, 1858 – July 7, 1936), one of the pioneer makers of steel pipe in the United States, was an industrialist in the Chicago area who founded the Mark Manufacturing Company in 1888, a firm for the fabrication and sale of water-well supplies and Clayton Mark and Company in 1900. In addition, Mark founded Marktown, a planned worker community in Northwest Indiana on the National Register of Historic Places. He was known for his philanthropy and civic contributions.

Mark, born in 1858 in Fredericksburg, Pennsylvania, was the son of Cyrus and Rebecca (Strohm) Mark. His earliest paternal ancestor in the United States was William Killian Mark, who moved with his brothers from Switzerland to Lebanon County Pennsylvania in 1735.

Clayton moved to Chicago with his family in 1872. He was educated in the public schools of Pennsylvania and Illinois, and stopped his formal education after completing seventh grade at Brown School in Chicago. Mark’s family relocated to Carroll, Iowa in 1936 after Mark’s father’s dry goods business burned down. Cyrus Marks subsequently established another dry goods business in Carroll. However, Clayton stayed in Chicago to begin his career as a file clerk for Chicago Malleable Iron Co. in 1876, where he advanced to secretary, and vice-president, and was on the Board of Directors until his death.

Mark founded The Mark Manufacturing Company in 1888 as a co-partnership with his father Cyrus Mark. The company initially manufactured well points, small castings used in the construction of wells. This business was later expanded to include the manufacture of steel pipe. In 1900, he built a pipe mill in Evanston, IL, bought another in Ohio in 1901, a zinc mining company in 1906, and in 1916 Mark built a steel mill in Indiana Harbor to supply his own requirements for steel.

In 1917, Mark began construction of a planned worker community “Marktown” to house the workers of his steel mill in Indiana Harbor, East Chicago, although it was never completed. Marktown was designed to house 8,000 employees in 200 houses, and the plans included a recreation building, both elementary and high schools, a post office, a movie theatre, and a recreational park with tennis courts. In contrast to the neighboring planned worker community developed by the Pullman Company in which workers were not allowed to own their homes, the residents of Marktown were to have the opportunity to either rent or purchase their homes.

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