1914 Stock Certificate - Polar Bear (signed by Merrill Meigs of "Meigs Field") in Chicago, Illinois For Sale

Authentic serial-numbered preferred stock certificate dated xxxx and issued by American Refrigeration Company. Top-center of document features photograph of a thick-necked polar bear standing on an ice sheet. Lower left corner contains a gleaming embossed gold seal stating name of company and incorporation year. Handsomely framed in orange. Certificate's serial number is #1 and was issued to Charles Samuel Hanson, whose signature also appears in lower right-corner where he hand-signs document as Company President. To the immediate left is the hand-signature of Company Treasurer, Merrill C. Meigs (age 31 at the time).
Meigs aspired to be a pilot thirteen years later despite having never flown in an airplane in his life after his soul was stirred by Charles Lindbergh's xxxx solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean. Meigs fanatically promoted Chicago as a world center of aviation, believing that cities who foresee the future of air transportation and provide suitable airports will find themselves in the center of airline commerce radiating in every direction. His visionary thoughts included that Chicago needed an air field within 10 minutes of the Loop to appease business executives unwilling to endure a long travel to an outlying airport, since time means that much to them.
Meigs Field opened in xxxx, but was bulldozed in the middle of the night in xxxx by order of Mayor Richard M. Daley, who claimed that safety concerns required the closure due to the post-September 11 risk of terrorist-controlled aircraft attacking the downtown waterfront near Meigs Field. In reality, closing the airport made the airspace less restrictive. When the airport was open, downtown Chicago was within Meigs Field's Class D airspace, requiring two-way radio communication with the tower. The buildings in downtown Chicago are now in Class E/G airspace, which allows any airplane to legally fly as close as 1,000 feet from these buildings with no radio communication at all.
Document measures 9 5/16 X 12 3/8 inches. Excellent condition (except for fold creases), no flaws or imperfections whatsoever. Document still has most of its original crispness and is suitable for framing.