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Where McDonald's is today at the corner of Randolph & Dearborn
streets in
Chicago, known as the Delaware Building, was in
1903 called the Real Estate Building and before that as
the Bryant block. In 1903 the prominent retail
store at the southwest corner of the structure was
the Best & Russell Co. cigar
store.
See a fun history of the structure at Designslinger.
Its role on Dec. 31, 1903, was to make room in its
vault for Iroquois cash receipts, taken there by
Iroquois clerk,
Brackebush
, as instructed by his
supervisor at the Iroquois, business manager,
Thomas
Noonan.
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Founded in 1891, Best & Russell Co. manufactured,
imported and wholesaled cigars. It was the Chicago
distributor and premier retailer for Robert Burns
Cigars.
William Best (1841-?) was a director at several
Chicago banks and the Windsor Folding Bed Co. He and
Iroquois manager Will J. Davis were in several clubs
together.
When Best retired in 1916 and sold out to United
Cigar Manufacturers, it had facilities in three states.
In the early 1900s, cigar-smoking was in one of its most
popular periods.
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