Iten Biscuit Company (W. Atlee Burpee Company of Philadelphia)

Iten Biscuit Company (W. Atlee Burpee Company of Philadelphia), 615-619 North 2nd Street; 1905.A large, three-story industrial/warehouse and office building, it has exterior walls of brick. The brick is a light buff color and was manufactured by the Iowa Granite Brick Company of Clinton. The building was built in stages. The first stage was a two-bay-wide frontage on North 2nd Street and was only two stories high. A five-bay, three-story expansion followed. Subsequently, a third story was added on the north portion and, later, an addition to the south was constructed to finish the complex into a united whole. A tin cornice helps unify the building with a strong horizontal emphasis. The building is a good example of commercial/industrial vernacular of the period with a minimun of historic emphasis; however, the entry arch is a dominant feature and suggests Romanesque Style influence.The building was built for L. Iten & Son's "Snow White Bakery"-later the Iten Biscuit Company. In 1928, the National Biscuit Company bought Iten. In 1941, W. Atlee Burpee (Seed) Company bought the building and, in 1943, started operations in Clinton.