Historecycle has emerged from fall hibernation with renewed energy, like an aging building newly retrofitted with LED lights. For the past several months, we’ve been Sherlock Holmes-ing a few “mystery” structures we’ve discovered, to dig into their murky past. And the rigorous pursuit of historical data has been like a shot in the arm.

Take, for example, the former B. & B. Shoe Company factory, which dates to at least the 1920s. Located in Chicago’s Old Town neighborhood, B. & B.’s workers used sewing machines to turn out footwear by the hundreds, starting most likely in the 1940s. By 1992 the three-story brick building had been sold to the current owners and reopened as the Catherine Cook School.