Curt Otto Teich (1877-1974) immigrated to Chicago, Illinois from Germany in 1895. In 1898 he established his own printing firm located at 59-61 Clybourn Avenue in Chicago with his brother Max as a silent partner. At this time Curt Teich and Company specialized in job, newspaper, and magazine printing. After a trip to Germany in 1904, Teich returned with knowledge of modern European printing methods. He began to print postcards with his own process using black halftone plates and adding colors by the lithographic process. In 1909 Teich approached the Scott Printing Press Company of New York to make an offset press large enough to print thirty-two cards to the sheet. The Teich Company became the first to successfully produce color postcards on an offset press.

Curt Teich and Company moved from Clybourn Avenue to LaSalle and Ohio Streets in 1907 and then purchased the building and adjacent vacant lot at 1733-55 W. Irving Park Road. After renovating the building, commissioning a new press and purchasing new equipment, the company moved to the new location in 1911. In 1922 a five-story East Building was erected on the empty lot, designed by Teich’s brother Frederick, a Chicago architect. The floors in the new building were designed to hold heavier loads then those in the existing building.

During the height of the company’s operation in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, both buildings were in full use. The fifth floor of the east section contained the archives, Advertising Department, files, reception area, and mailroom. The fourth floor was dedicated to photography with cameras, darkrooms, color separation area, and proofing press. This floor also contained an Art Department for the movie poster division. The main Art Department was located on the third floor. The third floor of the West Building held the Photolith Department. The second floors of both the East and West Buildings were devoted to the printing presses. Up to thirty presses, approximately thirty feet long, ten feet wide and ten feet high operated simultaneously. Paper for the presses was raised by elevator from the first floor, fed through the press, then lowered back down to the first floor for cutting and shipping.

During the 1930s a new color process was perfected by the Teich Company called the “C. T. Art Colortone.” In 1949 a process developed by Curt Teich, Jr. called “Curteichcolor,” was introduced. It was an exclusive four color process produced from a color transparency and plastic coated.

During World War II the Curt Teich Company received a commission from the Army Map Service. Over three million maps were printed by the company—100 percent of the invasion maps and half of all other maps used by the army.

In 1939 Curt Teich, Sr. stepped down as head of the company and management was taken over by his son Curt Teich, Jr., as president, and Frank Hochegger. Ralph Teich began working full-time for the company in 1949 in the photolitho department, but later moved to sales.

In 1974 the Teich family sold Curt Teich and Company. It then became Curt Teich Industries under the leadership of Norm Goldman. Regensteiner Publishing Enterprises, another Chicago printing firm, purchased the business in 1976 and continued producing postcards with the Curt Teich name until 1978. In 1980 the Curteichcolor process and name was purchased by the John Hinde company. The John Hinde Curteich, Inc. division of the company still operates out of Oxnard, California (as of 2010).