J.J. Collins Printers

John Joachim Collins was born in the County of Cork, Ireland, on June 16, 1844. His family came to America two years later, settled in Cincinnati, and it was here that John married Elizabeth Lawler in 1868. The Collins’ came to Chicago in 1871, and John, a printer by trade went to work for Rand McNally Co., one of the city’s oldest printing firms. In 1878 he started his own printing company at 38 North LaSalle Street. As time passed, his five sons joined their father in a business that bears his name and is still owned and operated by the same family.

In the early years, the company did a considerable amount of religious printing. In 1903, the History of Ireland was published in the Gaelic language from type that was set by hand and was brought to this country from London. Eventually, the company started to manufacture ledger books and ruled sheets for insurance companies and bills of lading for railroads. At one time, we were producing more than 250 types of standard railroad forms.

Important in our history was the purchase of our first rotary press from Meiser Press Manufacturing in 1923. This press greatly enhanced the productivity of the company and helped us secure business forms work from many of the large corporations in the Chicago area.

In 1961, the company moved to a new building in Melrose Park, Illinois. This period marked a time of expansion for the company. The efficiencies provided by the new plant, as well as the new equipment, resulted in a tremendous amount of new business. The production of snapout style and continuous forms began in the late 60’s and early 70’s. Automated padding equipment enabled us to produce large quantity pad orders at very low costs in half the previous delivery time.

Our warehouse facilities allow us to print, hold and ship our customers’ orders as needed. Our list of satisfied customers include almost every major corporation in the Chicago area.

Today, J.J. Collins has continued to grow and works hard to satisfy the needs of our customers. Our manufacturing facility moved to Charleston in 1996. This move has allowed a consolidation of our commercial plant, forms plant, warehousing and distribution into one facility. The corporate offices, sales are now located in Woodridge, Illinois.

Finally, while our past is important, we look forward to growth and change in the future. Technology is changing how our customers handle business transactions and J.J. Collins must be ready to supply the printed products that will be required. We recognize that our customers are our most valuable asset and we pledge to react to their changing needs.