The Madison Foundry Co. Enameled Mini Skillet Ashtray
SSC MUSEUM COLLECTION
Catalog No. SSC-MADISON-ASH-1930-001
Promotional Piece | Mini Skillet Form | Enameled Interior | Cleveland, Ohio
Circa 1920–1960 • The Madison Foundry Co. • Ohio Foundry Corridor
Bottom view showing “THE MADISON FDRY. CO.” and “CLEVELAND, O.” cast in raised letters around the perimeter, with the “MF” triangle monogram at center. A hand-written inventory or lot number in orange-red ink is visible over the logo—a later addition, likely from a dealer or auction house. This is a promotional piece: a miniature cast iron skillet shaped as an ashtray, produced by the foundry as a trade giveaway to advertise their casting capabilities.
Every foundry needed a calling card. In an era before websites and digital marketing, a Cleveland foundry that wanted to demonstrate the quality of its casting work to potential municipal clients had to put something physical in their hands—something small enough to carry, heavy enough to feel like real iron, and detailed enough to show what the foundry could do. The miniature skillet ashtray was one of the most popular solutions to this marketing challenge: a functional desk accessory that doubled as a permanent advertisement for the foundry that cast it.
The Madison Foundry Company of Cleveland, Ohio produced this enameled mini skillet as exactly that kind of promotional piece. The bottom carries the full company name—“THE MADISON FDRY. CO.” and “CLEVELAND, O.”—cast around the perimeter in raised letters, with the company’s “MF” triangle monogram at center. The piece is shaped like a miniature skillet with a flat handle and teardrop hanging loop, two cigarette rests cast into opposite sides of the rim, and an enameled interior. It was designed to sit on a desk in a city engineer’s office, a contractor’s trailer, or a purchasing agent’s workspace—catching ashes and advertising Madison Foundry every time someone reached for it.
Madison Foundry was established in 1893 in Cleveland, specializing in municipal castings: manhole covers, sewer grates, catch basin frames, and other infrastructure components for area cities and the Ohio Department of Transportation. This was not a cookware foundry. This was a company that cast the iron that held together Cleveland’s streets, sewers, and water systems. The mini skillet ashtray was their way of showing that a foundry capable of casting a manhole cover could also cast a perfectly detailed miniature with crisp lettering and a smooth interior finish—and if they could do that, they could certainly cast whatever a municipal client needed.
The Promotional Form
Top view showing the enameled interior bowl with two cigarette rests cast into opposing rim positions. The flat handle with teardrop hanging loop mimics a full-sized skillet in miniature. The dark enameled interior provided a heat-resistant, easy-to-clean surface for ash—a practical feature that also demonstrated the foundry’s ability to apply enamel finishes to its castings.
The mini skillet ashtray format was used by foundries across the country as a promotional tool, but each foundry’s version was unique—cast from their own patterns, carrying their own marks, and reflecting their own casting quality. The Madison Foundry version features a clean, well-proportioned miniature skillet form with two cigarette rests integrated into the rim at opposing positions, a flat handle with a teardrop hanging loop, and an enameled interior. The enamel finish is significant: it shows that Madison Foundry either operated its own enameling facility or contracted with one, adding a layer of finishing capability to its promotional story.
In the SSC collection, this piece joins the Salesman Samples & Promos grouping alongside other promotional and miniature pieces. But it also belongs to the Cleveland story—the growing documentation of Cleveland’s foundry industry that now includes Superior Foundry Inc. (melting bowl and scoop), The Cleveland Foundry Co. (trivet), Lake City Malleable Co. (casting ladle), and now Madison Foundry Co. Each piece comes from a different Cleveland foundry. Each foundry served a different market. Together, they document a city that was not just a steel town but a casting town—a place where dozens of specialized foundries operated simultaneously, each serving its own niche in the industrial economy.
Piece Details
Manufacturer
The Madison Foundry Co.
Piece Type
Enameled Mini Skillet Ashtray (promotional piece)
Form
Miniature skillet with flat handle, teardrop hanging loop, and two cigarette rests at rim
Material
Cast Iron with enameled interior
Marking
“THE MADISON FDRY. CO. / CLEVELAND, O.” with “MF” triangle monogram on bottom
Purpose
Foundry promotional giveaway / advertising piece
Date of Manufacture
Circa 1920–1960
Place of Manufacture
Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio
Condition
Good — legible company name and monogram; enameled interior intact; cigarette rests intact; hand-written lot number in ink on bottom
Acquisition Date
March 3, 2026
Acquisition Source
eBay — Seller: sparrowthrift
eBay Item Number
155244624969
Order Number
07-14317-66927
Purchase Price
$21.00 item + free shipping + $1.78 tax = $22.78 total
SSC Catalog Number
SSC-MADISON-ASH-1930-001
Collection Designation
Ohio Foundry Corridor
The Madison Foundry Co.: Casting Cleveland’s Infrastructure
The Madison Foundry Company was established in 1893 in Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio. Unlike the cookware foundries and stove manufacturers that dominate most cast iron collections, Madison Foundry specialized in municipal and infrastructure castings—the manhole covers, sewer grates, catch basin frames, curb inlets, and utility access covers that form the invisible skeleton of a modern city. Their clients were not housewives buying skillets. Their clients were city engineers, public works departments, and the Ohio Department of Transportation.
This specialization placed Madison Foundry in a different corner of the Cleveland foundry ecosystem than the other Cleveland foundries in the SSC collection. Superior Foundry made small consumer and industrial items. Cleveland Foundry Co. made stoves and household hardware. Lake City Malleable served the broader casting trade. Madison Foundry built the infrastructure that held the city together beneath the pavement. Every time a Clevelander walked over a manhole cover or drove over a storm drain grate, they were—whether they knew it or not—interacting with the kind of casting that Madison Foundry produced.
The foundry was eventually acquired by EJ (formerly East Jordan Iron Works), a Michigan-based municipal casting company that expanded into the Cleveland market through the acquisition. The Madison Foundry name and its Cleveland heritage were absorbed into EJ’s national operation—another Ohio foundry identity lost to consolidation, preserved now only in the physical artifacts that carry its name.
Corporate Timeline: The Madison Foundry Co.
1893
The Madison Foundry Co. established in Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio. Specializes in municipal castings: manhole covers, sewer grates, catch basins, and infrastructure components.
c.1920s+
Madison Foundry produces promotional items including this enameled mini skillet ashtray, used as trade giveaways to municipal clients and contractors.
20th c.
The foundry serves area cities and the Ohio Department of Transportation with municipal casting designs. The “MF” triangle logo becomes the company’s recognized trademark.
Acquired
EJ (formerly East Jordan Iron Works, est. 1883 in Michigan) acquires Madison Foundry, entering the greater Cleveland market and expanding sales throughout Ohio.
Cleveland’s Foundry Ecosystem: Five Foundries, Five Niches
The SSC collection now documents five different Cleveland foundries, each serving a distinct market niche—a cross-section of an industrial ecosystem that most people never knew existed. The Cleveland Foundry Co. (est. 1888) made stoves and household hardware, eventually becoming Perfection Stove Company. Superior Foundry Inc. made small consumer and industrial castings—melting bowls, boot jacks, trivets. Lake City Malleable Co. served the broader malleable iron trade with casting ladles and industrial tools. Fanner Manufacturing Co. produced glue melting pots and specialized vessels. And now Madison Foundry Co. (est. 1893) represents the municipal infrastructure side—the manhole covers and sewer grates that literally built the city from below.
Five foundries. Five specializations. One city. This is what Cleveland’s industrial economy looked like in the early twentieth century: not a monolithic steel industry, but a diverse network of specialized foundries, each casting iron for a different purpose, each serving a different customer base, and each operating within walking distance of the others on Cleveland’s industrial east side. The SSC collection is assembling the evidence of this ecosystem one piece at a time—and every piece that carries the word “Cleveland” on its base adds another node to the map.
Why This Piece Matters
The Madison Foundry Co. mini skillet ashtray matters because it is the fifth Cleveland foundry represented in the SSC collection—and the first that specialized in municipal infrastructure rather than consumer or industrial products. A manhole cover is too large for a museum shelf. But a mini skillet ashtray cast by the same foundry tells the same story in a form that fits in the palm of your hand: here was a Cleveland foundry, established in 1893, that cast the iron beneath your feet, and this little skillet on a desk somewhere in City Hall was how they got the contract. It is advertising ephemera, foundry promotion, and Cleveland industrial history, all in one miniature casting that cost twenty-one dollars.
The iron endures. The markings tell the truth. The story deserves to be told.
Sources & Further Reading
EJ (ejco.com) — Company History: “Established in Cleveland in 1893, Madison Foundry specialized in manufacturing municipal casting designs for area cities and the Ohio Department of Transportation.” Acquisition by EJ (East Jordan Iron Works).
SSC Internal Collection Records — Cleveland foundry pieces: Superior Foundry Inc. (SSC-SUPERIOR-BWL-1930-001, SSC-SUPERIOR-SCP-1930-001), Cleveland Foundry Co. (SSC-CLEVFDY-TRV-1891-001), Lake City Malleable Co. (SSC-LAKECITY-LDL-1920-001).
About Steve’s Seasoned Classics
Steve’s Seasoned Classics is an online museum dedicated to preserving and documenting the heritage of American cast iron, with a focus on Ohio foundry pieces from the 19th and early 20th centuries. The SSC collection features over 130 pieces with detailed provenance, historical research, and photography for each item.
