{"id":844761,"date":"2026-08-05T19:38:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T19:38:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/844761\/"},"modified":"2026-08-05T19:38:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T19:38:14","slug":"west-side-students-complete-painting-of-long-lost-business-on-decades-old-canvas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/844761\/","title":{"rendered":"West Side Students Complete Painting Of Long-Lost Business On Decades-Old Canvas"},"content":{"rendered":"

HUMBOLDT PARK \u2014 While updating the library at Harriet Beecher Stowe Elementary School, staff found a mysterious canvas featuring the outline of a painting.<\/p>\n

That painting is now complete thanks to some of Stowe\u2019s middle school students who, in finishing the work of art, helped preserve the history of a long-lost clock manufacturer and helped cement their artistic legacy in the school for years to come.<\/p>\n

It all started when Jimmy Lugo, principal of the school at 3444 W. Wabansia Ave., wanted to upgrade Stowe\u2019s library and community room with new projectors and TVs. That required moving old bookshelves, behind which the canvas was hiding.<\/p>\n

The large canvas contained an outlined sketch drawn in pencil of a storefront belonging to an old West Town clock manufacturer Darche Manufacturing Co<\/a>., which was located at 1824 W. Grand Ave. before its address switched to 599 W. Grand Ave. when Chicago renumbered its streets in 1909.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat in the world is this?\u201d Lugo remembers thinking. \u201cIs this a real company?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Students at Stowe Elementary School painted a canvas that was found behind old bookcases at the Humboldt Park school, as shown on July 10, 2026. Credit: Colin Boyle\/Block Club Chicago<\/p>\n

\"\"This photo of the Darche company storefront formerly at 1824 W. Grand Ave. circa 1908 was seemingly the inspiration for the canvas found at Stowe Elementary School. Credit: Provided<\/p>\n

Lugo began researching Darche Manufacturing and discovered that it was a family-run local clock and alarm clock company that operated from 1882-1929, according to Illinois historian Dr. Neil Gale, author of the Digital Research Library of Illinois History Journal<\/a>. He also found the photo that served as the basis of the painting.<\/p>\n

Darche Manufacturing made electric alarm clocks<\/a> and stands, and it received multiple patents for its products under the leadership of August Darche, the first woman president of the company from 1909-1928, a fact that was considered revolutionary at the time.<\/p>\n

The company created \u201cthe nucleus of an excellent electric clock\u201d and was considered leaders in the industry, wrote Gale, who did not return a request for comment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe company survived until the Great Depression in 1929. While short-lived, the company produced multiple patents and became a real innovator in battery-powered alarm clocks,\u201d Gale wrote.<\/p>\n

The canvas showed August Darche standing with her children in front of their West Town store. In the window, their many clocks can be seen on display.<\/p>\n

Lugo wasn\u2019t sure why, how or when the canvas ended up behind the bookshelves, but he estimated it\u2019s about 40-50 years old as the bookcases were there since at least the \u201980s. Even the type of canvas isn\u2019t made anymore, Stowe art teacher Tiffani Kuhn said.<\/p>\n

Lugo, born and raised in Humboldt Park, then had an idea. Recalling his own elementary school days in the \u201970s when he painted a cardboard mural of the founding fathers for a school project, he thought finishing the painting could honor the legacy of the students who started it and the business it depicts.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019d be kind of cute to have our students finish it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"Students at Stowe Elementary School paint a canvas that was found behind old bookcases at the Humboldt Park school during art class at the end of the 2025-2026 school year. Credit: Provided<\/p>\n

So, during the last few weeks of school earlier this year, Kuhn\u2019s seventh and eighth grade students worked to fill in the canvas, adding color and learning more about the company history.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was bittersweet to see this [completed] because I watched those kids grow up. I\u2019ve had them since kindergarten,\u201d Kuhn said. \u201cIt\u2019s nice to kind of see them do this final project, like a piece of them will still be here.\u201d<\/p>\n

The canvas was completed in June and will soon be hung up in the Stowe auditorium \u2014 just in time for returning students to flood the hallways \u2014 to honor the past and show off the student-led project, Lugo said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a time capsule piece,\u201d he said. \u201cAll that because we needed to change the projector.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Students at Stowe Elementary School painted a canvas that was found behind old bookcases at the Humboldt Park school, as shown on July 10, 2026. Credit: Colin Boyle\/Block Club Chicago<\/p>\n

\"\"Students at Stowe Elementary School painted a canvas that was found behind old bookcases at the Humboldt Park school, as shown on July 10, 2026. Credit: Colin Boyle\/Block Club Chicago<\/p>\n

Lugo, who has been Stowe\u2019s principal for over a decade, still has questions about the artwork\u2019s origins and wonders if anyone remembers the company, has personal ties to it or knows why the canvas was hidden at Stowe.<\/p>\n

Without answers, Lugo, Kuhn and the students who completed the project are left to wonder about the canvas\u2019s history \u2014 but they are happy to preserve the work for the school and the Humboldt Park community at large.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe project, and the students finishing it, is a bookend,\u201d Lugo said. \u201cWho knows, these might have been some eighth graders in the \u201970s or \u201960s who started it, and it took eighth graders from 2026 to finish it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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