Ball & Socket Manufacturing Co. | From Civil War Buttons to an Arts Complex

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This one stings a little. Not every location hands you a story worth telling and then slams the door before you can photograph it, but the Ball & Socket factory had other plans for J and me that day. The cold was the first thing I remember. A sharp Connecticut chill that had absolutely no interest in our ambitions. We worked our way into the inner courtyard, feeling reasonably optimistic, and then hit a wall literally. Locked doors on every side. No entry points that weren't either sealed or watched. The only building we managed to get inside looked less like a historic factory and more like a very long parking garage that had given up on itself. Even the boiler house was off the table. We circled, debated, and eventually made the call that every explorer has to make when a site is still secured and possibly still monitored: we walked. Some days you document. Some days the building wins. We never went back, and before we got a second crack at it, word came down that the complex...
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United Lacquer Manufacturing Corporation




Looming over 2.72 acres, adjacent to the bustling Amtrak and New Jersey Transit lines, the desolate skeleton of the United Lacquer Manufacturing Corporation once stood. Now reduced to rubble, the echoes of its past cling stubbornly to the air. This trio of structures, variegated in height from one to three stories, once bustled with the production of lacquers, varnishes, and enamels. For 15 to 20 years, however, they were consigned to silence, abandonment, and ruin. This forsaken property was regularly subjected to a grim cycle of fires and illegal dumping, underscoring its tragic trajectory of decline.


The land’s history, as told by the city of Linden, reads like a litany of chemical contamination from multiple manufacturers, and of a previous owner disappearing into the ether, leaving behind a weighty tax burden. Unsurprisingly, the city eventually lost patience with this bleak tableau of human-initiated fires and neglect. As a consequence, the ownership was transferred via condemnation to a development company.


Transition of 1920s coal tar manufacturer to chemical company in a 1951 map survey. A rail spur was originally laid in the very beginning of its operation before disappearing through the ownership and mergers of railroad companies. Currently, NJTransit operates the rail line.


Transatlantic Chemical Corporation, manufacturers of coal tar intermediates, contracted a 100,000-dollar two-story 100 x 150 ft factory to M. Bvorn & Co of 430 Westfield Avenue, Elizabeth, New Jersey. Adam Cook’s Sons Inc, manufacturer of lubricating greases & oil compounding, best known for its "Albany Grease," founded in 1868 in Albany, New York, came to Linden in 1926, taking over the former Transatlantic Chemical plant. The original structure was rebuilt and enlarged. Adam Cook's Sons product line extended to include a full line of metalworking lubricants and specialties for industry. However, there is a conflicting historical take because another source states the company relocated to 5 North Stiles Street there original location as found in Sanborn map surveys, but both sites are still separated in the latest 1958 map survey. However, the site still functions and operates as the US headquarters and a production facility for TotalEnergies Lubricants.
















burned out linden nj factory building




Soon, this once forlorn location will pulse with the hum of daily life, home to 402 dwellers. Meridia 1001 Linden LLC has brought forward plans to transform the space at 1001 West Elizabeth Ave. Their blueprint envisions 402 residential units, alongside amenities, ground-floor retail, and a management office. The proposal doesn't stop at bricks and mortar but extends to encompass the gentler aesthetics of landscaping, lighting, and parking facilities.


In the years of its dereliction, I remember the site being all too accessible, its gate yawning open without a hint of a deterrent. It was a magnet for misadventures, its neglect arguably stoking the fires that intermittently blazed there. The grimy interior was a cocktail of domestic and construction waste, while the largest building bore the visceral scars of fire damage. Blackened wooden beams, warped into charcoal, lay strewn across the rusted metal floor. The pockmarked roof, perforated with gaping holes, threatened to cave under the weight of collapsed supports, reduced to gnarled clusters of wood and twisted metal.


In contrast, the second building managed to retain some vestiges of respectability. It seemed to have been commandeered by skateboarders, its smooth concrete floors and makeshift wooden ramps suggesting a new, illicit lease of life. Another part of the property was less fortunate. It was reduced to a mangled fusion of roofing tiles and window panes, a grim testimony to the raging fires.












In an older post titled "Chemical X Warehouse", I've shared more images that capture this evocative landscape of urban decay. Soon, the narrative of this plot will change again, this time for the better. As we bear witness to its transformation, we remember the layers of history it's seen and the potential that lies ahead.




🏭 Did You Work at United Lacquer Manufacturing Corporation?

Were you a former employee of the following entities that operated here, such as Transatlantic Chemical Corporation, Adam Cook's Sons, and United Lacquer Mfg Corp? Do you have photographs, product samples, or memories of the lacquer, varnish, and enamel production that once took place here? Share your stories below.

📩 Share Your Memory or drop a comment below — full credit given to every contributor
⬇ Keep Reading — More New Jersey Industrial History
🏭 More New Jersey Chemical & Manufacturing Stories
From lacquer plants, pigments and color factories to chemical works and paint facilities — explore the toxic legacy and redevelopment of New Jersey's industrial sites and more.
🏭 United Lacquer Manufacturing Corporation once produced lacquers, varnishes, and enamels in Linden — now the site is a 402-unit residential community, a symbol of New Jersey's ongoing transformation.





Source(s):




1. Russel, Suzanne, "Redevelopment planned for Linden warehouse damaged in fire", my central jersey, February 16, 2017

2. Loyer, Susan, "Linden: Mixed-use project may be coming to West Elizabeth Avenue", my central jersey, January 7, 2020

3. Lati, Marisa, "Fire at abandoned Linden warehouse called suspicious", NJ.com, February 18, 2017

4. Princeton University Library. (n.d.). Sanborn maps of New Jersey: Linden. Retrieved July 20, 2026, from https://static-prod.lib.princeton.edu/sc/aids/sanborn/union/linden.html

5. (1920) Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Linden, Union County, New Jersey. Sanborn Map Company, Nov. [Map] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/sanborn05525_001/

6. Chemical & metallurgical engineering (Vol. 20). (1902). Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/chemicalengineer20newy/page/142/mode/2up?q=%22Transatlantic+Chemical+Co%22

7. United States International Trade Commission. (1920). Synthetic organic chemicals: United States production and sales (Vol. 1920). U.S. Government Printing Office. https://archive.org/details/syntheticorganic1920unit/page/118/mode/2up?q=%22Transatlantic+Chemical+Corporation%22

8. (1951) Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Elizabeth, Union County, New Jersey. Sanborn Map Company, - 1951 Vol. 3, 1923; Republished 1951. [Map] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/sanborn05469_010/

9. (1958) Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Elizabeth, Union County, New Jersey. Sanborn Map Company, - 1958 Vol. 3, ; Reprinted 1958. [Map] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/sanborn05469_012/

10. City of Linden. (1961). Looking back to look ahead, the story of 100 years of vigorous growth: City of Linden, New Jersey 1861-1961 (p. 93).

11. Oil, Paint and Drug Reporter (Vol. 91, No. 22, p. 84). (1917, May 21). Reed Business Information UK. https://archive.org/details/sim_icis-chemical-business_1917-05-21_91_22/page/84/mode/2up

Location: 1001 W Elizabeth Ave, Linden, NJ 07036, USA

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