100 Years Ago - Los Angeles Company Helped WWI Soldiers Keep Close to Loved Ones
by Geraldine Knatz, LACHS Board Member
Collecting tags and medals to continue this series of blogs on Los Angeles history, I was thrilled to find a brass tag with the words “Banning Co.” on it along with the words “time check” and the number 679. I knew it had to be associated with the Banning family of Wilmington, California. But I was stumped on what the tag was used for. The Banning Company was started by Phineas Banning’s son William in 1894. The railroads used brass tags for luggage and time checks but Banning Co. never operated a railroad and Phineas Banning who started the Los Angeles and San Pedro railroad in the late 1860’s did not use the name Banning Company. One of my railroad friends believes the tag might have been used by a Banning Company employee. When a worker arrived at his place of employment, he would request his brass tag from the pay office and hang it on his peg inside a case in his work area. The case would be locked by the company foreman and so a worker had to arrive on time to get clocked in for the day. At the end of the worker’s shift, the case was unlocked and the worker took his tag to the pay office. He would be then paid for the day’s work. Sounds like this was the precursor to the era of punching in at the time clock at work.
This explanation set me on the hunt for other company brass tags that might look like they were used in the same way. And there are many you can find for different companies and manufacturing plants. I also found similar tags were used to check out tools and are rightly called “tool check” tags. On the online Friendly Metal Detector Forum, you can find many similar tags. Some are tool checks, some are coat check tags from hotels and ballrooms.
The Banning Company operated from 1894 to 1920. This was the period when the Banning Company was dong stevedoring, towing, shipping and storage. Considering the Banning family also owned Catalina Island during this period, they probably had many employees so there may have been an employee with the number 679. Whatever its use, it appears to be a rare tag indeed as the staff at the Banning Museum have never seen another one like it.