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In 1880, Edward Hine and Lawrence Feuchter
decided to pool their resources and open their own print shop.
So the journeymen printers leased the second floor
of a building at Adams and Harrison streets in Peoria, Illinois, and installed
what equipment they could afford. Then they hung out a shingle announcing
they were ready to supply printing to the community.
The business at Adams and Harrison prospered, and in time, outgrew its quarters.
In 1906, the company moved to 307 S.W. Washington Street. Also in 1906,
corporation papers were filed for the company now known as Edward Hine Company.
In 1963, with new equipment and additional staff to serve their ever-growing
number of customers, the firm moved to its present location at 201 Morton
Street.
After 124 years, Edward Hine Company, now the oldest printing firm in Peoria, is still managing the print communication process, not only for customers in the community, but throughout Illinois and the Midwest.
Through the combination of a well-planned modern plant and a staff of skilled
and dedicated graphics arts craftsmen, all steeped in the Hine tradition,
Edward Hine is continuing to help its customers achieve their communication
goals.
From Our Original Founders to
Edward Hine Today
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From its founding fathers to their sons to their
present-day counterparts, Edward Hine Company combines a tradition of more
than 100 years of printing excellence with the very latest in technology.
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Edward Hine
The love of the printed page must have
been in his blood, because by age 11, Edward Hine was determined to learn
the printer's trade. After completing his apprenticeship, the young journeymen
worked diligently for several area printers -- all the while saving for
his own business someday. In 1884, he partnered with Lawrence Feuchter to
buy the old M.C. Mason printing plant, giving the new company his namesake
for good measure. Edward Hine Company is now one of the largest printing
companies in Central Illinois.
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Lawrence Feuchter
Lawrence Feuchter began his printer's apprenticeship
at the M.C. Mason plant, where he quickly became an expert pressman. Launching
his career in 1874 with the local Transcript Printing Company, Feuchter's
love for the business only grew. One year later, he moved to H.S. Hill,
where he directed all pressroom operations for nine years. Feuchter partnered
with Edward Hine in 1884 to buy the very company in which he had apprenticed
as a boy. The two incorporated Edward Hine Company in 1906.
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Paul Prutsman
Paul Prutsman became owner of Edward Hine Company in 1960, serving as
president until his retirement in 1984. The forward-thinking entrepreneur
believed in teaming-- long before it became the nation's business trend.
With an open-door management style, he made his own sales calls, kept his
desk among colleagues' and regularly met with clients in the company's conference
room. Perhaps his gifts of leadership and camaraderie were a byproduct of
the years he dedicated to the U.S. Army. Prutsman retired from the reserves
as a lieutenant colonel, and served his country for five years during World
War II.
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Bruce Simpson
Like Edward Hine, Bruce Simpson has embraced change
from the beginning. He earned his business degree from Bradley University
and after working nine years at a local printing business, went to work
in advertising for a company which is now one of Edward Hine's largest clients.
Simpson began in sales with Edward Hine Company in 1969. It wasn't long
before his ambitions drove him to become a company partner and vice president
of sales. He purchased the company in January 1995 and became its new president,
dedicated to leading the company into the 21st Century.
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