Later Years
By their fifteenth year, orders from the UK and all over the world were flowing in, so much so that at times it was difficult to keep up with demand.

Around 1900, the company purchased a second factory on the corner of Church Lane and Nelson Street, Wolverhampton.

In September 1907 James Gibbons Limited expressed an interest in buying the Church Lane factory, which was sold to them in October 1907 for £250.

By June 1906 Chromographic was extremely busy, so busy in fact that the company had to refuse an order for 1,000 plates per week.

Another furnace was installed at Dudley Road in order to increase production, and Cannon Industries doubled their order for stove plates.

On 19th July, 1906, Chromographic purchased their Dudley Road site for £1,000.  It had previously been rented.


Mr. J. Woodhead who ran the company.


The first page of a catalogue from around 1900.


Another catalogue from around 1900, for tram notice plates.


Some of the tram notice plates from the catalogue.


Mr. J. Woodhead (right) and another employee in the works yard.

The following is a copy of an article that appeared in the 'Wolverhampton and South Staffordshire Illustrated' in about 1900:








An advert from 1916.


A plan of the factory from 1948.


A letterhead from 1950.

In the 1950s Chromographic was taken over by Fordham Pressings Limited, a near neighbour, based at Melbourne Works, 533 Dudley Road. Some of Fordham's products such as their sanitary fittings were enamelled, so Chromographic's expertise was most useful.

Chromographic is listed in the 1962 edition of Kelly's Directory of Wolverhampton, but not in the 1964 edition. In that edition the site is listed as being occupied by Parnell Byards Limited, sheet metal workers.

The factory was demolished in the early 1970s. The site is now occupied by part of the Currys store in St. Johns Retail Park.  


 
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