CBA Record March-April 2026

nia—site of the first oil well in the United States. There Chesebrough watched oil workers regularly remove a thick, waxy substance from drill bits as they were pulled out of the earth and then apply the material directly onto their injured skin to heal cuts and wounds. After tinkering with the formula for several years, Che sebrough eventually patented his product and named it Vaseline. The “line” in Vase line was meant to indicate its oil well ori gins (similar to products such as gasoline and kerosene). But back to Maybelline: Tom Williams’ office and manufactur ing plant for Maybelline eye makeup was located at 5920 North Ridge Avenue in Chicago’s Andersonville neighborhood. The building still stands there, and its original “M” (for Maybelline, of course) still sits above the doorway. Recently, the owners named the building “The Mabel Exchange” in a nod to Mabel Williams. In 1967, the entire Maybelline busi ness was sold to Plough, Inc. Shortly after the sale, Plough surreptitiously moved the company to Memphis, Tennessee over a weekend, leaving Maybelline’s loyal Chi cago workers unemployed and with no legal recourse. (It was not until 1988 that the federal WARN statute [Worker Adjust ment and Retraining Notification Act, 29 U.S.C. § 2101, et seq .] was enacted.) In 1975, Plough followed a similar play book when it moved Maybelline to Little Rock, Arkansas, again leaving loyal work ers unemployed and without legal recourse. In 1996, French cosmetic giant L’Oreal bought Maybelline, moved operations and headquarters to Brooklyn, and changed the name to Maybelline New York. Today, Maybelline’s advertising pro motes how beautiful it makes people look and touts its connection to sophisticated New York City—but at its heart lie Tom Williams’ sister Mabel, some coal dust, a bit of Vaseline, and a factory on Ridge Avenue in Chicago.

CHICAGO LORE BY RICHARD LEE STAVINS

MAYBELLINE CHICAGO The letter "M' adorns the doorway of a residential building in Chicago, in tribute to the loca tion of the original Maybelline factory. Photo Credit: Richard Stavins

T he cosmetics giant Maybelline New York was originally Maybel line Chicago. It was founded here in 1915 by Chicago pharmacist Thomas Williams after he watched his older sister Mabel mix Vaseline and coal dust (the latter being found in the basement of nearly every heated Chicago building at

that time) to create a homemade cosmetic that she and her friends applied to darken their eyelashes. Yes, Chicago coal dust was the original mascara. As a side note, Vaseline itself has an interesting history. In 1859, a 22-year-old chemist, Augustus Robert Chesebrough, happened to be in Titusville, Pennsylva

Richard Lee Stavins is of counsel to the Buchalter law firm in Chicago and is a CBA Record Editorial Board member. In addition to being an appellate practitioner, he is a 50-year member of the CBA.

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