15

D. Recher was located at 322-324 W. North Avenue, Chicago. In 1976 the firm

was known as Recher Wine Company and was located at 2343 West 27th Street.

In 1955 Recher trademarked a Vermouth named

“

Grandeur.

”

There is a bit of a mystery surrounding the Recher corkscrew. Although The 50

th

Anniversary copy would seem to date it at 1940, Roger Copel says they did not

adopt the Copex name until after World War II.

With the war in full swing, the wine business at a standstill, and importing

difficult, Copel decided to manufacture his own corkscrew. He had parts made

locally and in 1943, the Copel family began assembling Copex corkscrews in the

basement of their home in Algonquin. Jacques worked the production line part-

time while Rosemary, 15 year old daughter Chou Chou, and 12 year old Roger

busied themselves with the tools, hot gluing and branding machine. 9 year old

Willy was too young to pitch in at the time. 2000-3000 corkscrews were produced

by the family in the next couple of years.

At the end of the war, Copel went back into the wine business and purchased the

corkscrews from a French supplier in the Jura and imported them into the U.S.

under the Copex name.