It could be said that Cary resident Betty Freeman was recruited as Seaquist's first employee.

Back then, in the mid-1940s, friends Nels Werner Seaquist and Alex Werner Carlson left their jobs to go into the tool and die trade together.

Operating their business from a small garage in a Cary home, Seaquist and Carlson didn't have any office room to accommodate their paperwork.

So, every so often, Carlson requested Freeman's help. He asked her to type a business letter on their behalf.

"I didn't want the job, but I said, 'Sure, I'll help out,'æ" Freeman recalls.

Today, operations at SeaquistPerfect are much different. Seaquist and Carlson have since died. Instead of tool and die work, the company produces valves and closures that shoppers see on shampoo bottles or aerosol cans. The company has spun off into different ventures that collectively generate $713 million in worldwide sales.

"It kept getting bigger and bigger," Freeman said.

SeaquistPerfect is one of the many business success stories in the Fox Valley that have evolved in the past century. Not only did these businesses survive the 20th century, but these companies thrived - evolving from small, private ventures into prominent companies.

Besides SeaquistPerfect, the past century has seen other small businesses start out small and grow big, such as Precision Twist and Dean Foods in Huntley; McWhorter Inc. and Otto Engineering in Carpentersville;and D'Angelo Springs in East Dundee.

Other businesses have left their mark but didn't survive the changing times.

The Elgin Watch Company made a lasting impression on the city of Elgin, which has adopted the slogan: "The City to Watch."

Started in 1867, the watch company conquered the 19th century by tapping into the market of high-quality timepieces.

A century and 6 million pocket watches later, operations at the Elgin Watch Company came to a crashing halt when its factory was demolished.

Although it didn't survive, the Elgin Watch Company's influence on the city is still visible. It's visible in the old mansions and high-quality housing stock that surrounded the former factory site.

It also changed the way Elgin residents lived. Since the company relied heavily on resident employment, many families had two working parents.

"It tremendously affected the community, because it made the two-income family en vogue and allowed them to increase living standards," Elgin historian Jerry Turnquist said.

But surviving the 20th century required a certain business skill The Elgin Watch Company didn't learn.

To survive the greatly expanding market and rapidly changing consumer demands, small companies had to change with the times to keep up sales.

"Foreign competition was a big part of (the watch company closing). They were producing fine jeweled watches with great quality, but the trend of the buying public was cheaper, throwaway watches. The management didn't retool and react quick enough," Turnquist said.

But other companies adapted and thrived. Seaquist is one example. The Chicago Rawhide Company is another.

Chicago Rawhide started in Chicago in 1878 by manufacturing buggy whips and curing other leather products - such as belts, lacings and ropes used in horse riding.

But, over time, in addition to relocating operations in Elgin in 1950, the company switched to making engine seals for cars. Today, the company produces seals, bearings and a long list of industrial components used in everything from cars to airplanes.

Haeger Pottery in West Dundee is another successful company that learned to change with the times.

A family-owned business, the Haeger company started building bricks in 1871 to help Chicago rebuild after the Great Chicago Fire. By the 1930s, the company switched gears and began creating ceramics and artistic pottery.

Today, the business produces many of the same products, including sculptures, vases and candle holders. The only difference is that the business produces its pottery on a much larger scale. It has a factory as far west as Macomb, Ill.

"We're doing basically the same thing as my father started in the 1930s, but we're more multi-faceted now and expanding more," said Lexy Haeger Estes, president of Haeger Potteries.

And, with so many small companies starting out as versatile businesses today, there's a chance the small shop just down your street might be around for the next 100 years, too.

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