Browse Items (1402 total)

Long a landmark in Woodstock, the name Eltra was painted on the water tower of the Woodstock Die Casting factory. Eltra Corporation owned Woodstock Die Casting from 1963 until Eltra was acquired by Allied Chemical Corporation in 1979.

Woodstock…

Woodstock Manufacturing Corporation of Michigan bought Woodstock Die Casting from Allied Signal Corporation in 1985. After several years of decline, the factory closed on June 29, 1990, resulting in the loss of 757 jobs. The City of Woodstock was…

The old Oliver Typewriter Company office "bungalow" sits alongside the Chicago and North Western railway tracks in front of a new façade of the Woodstock Die Casting factory. The photo was taken shortly before the bungalow was razed as part of a…

This aerial photo is taken from the east and shows the Auto Lite factory in 1962, shortley before a major expansion. Clay Street runs along the side of the factory with the American Legion building at the left. The water tower has Eltra painted on it…

This aerial photo shows the Electric Autolite factory taken from the south in 1960. It is titled the Die Cast site since that is what it has been called since 1997 when it was demolished.

The original Tappan Steam Pump then Oliver Typewriter…

"Chester Nelson with the Oliver typewriter given him in 1928 as recognition that he was the company's last employe. The Oliver typewriter advanced the art of mechanical writing.
(Photo by Cliff Lohs)" [Elgin Courier-News December 14, 1975]
…

The Oliver Typewriter band poses in front of the Chicago headquarters. The building features the typical Chicago-style entrance at the point of the intersection of two streets. The company expanded quickly in both Chicago and Woodstock and the…

The Oliver Typewriter Band poses on a stage that is sometimes identifed as the Woodstock Opera House. The names are listed on the back with corrections and varied spellings and the note "about 1900." The library owns three copies, two donated by…

Men are working in the main office of the Oliver Typewriter factory. Chester Nelson, the man who was commissioned to shut down the factory in 1929 until the last man had left, has identified some of the men with a label on the photo itself.
First…

This group of employees on the lawn in front of the Oliver Typewriter factory are being recognized for having been employed for 15 or more years of service. Three women join the gentlemen who are dressed in suits, many with medals on their lapels in…

This large group photo of the employees at the Oliver Typewriter factory in the Assembling Department includes many women. Several newspaper articles use the expression "bench girls."

The November 2, 1911 Woodstock Sentinel article states, "The…

Article page sixteen of the Thomas Oliver Patent #562,337. Patent granted June 16, 1896

Article page fifteen of the Thomas Oliver Patent #562,337. Patent granted June 16, 1896

Article page fourteen of the Thomas Oliver Patent #562,337. Patent granted June 16, 1896

Article page thirteen of the Thomas Oliver Patent #562,337. Patent granted June 16, 1896

Article page twelve of the Thomas Oliver Patent #562,337. Patent granted June 16, 1896

Article page eleven of the Thomas Oliver Patent #562,337. Patent granted June 16, 1896

Article page ten of the Thomas Oliver Patent #562,337. Patent granted June 16, 1896

Article page one of the Thomas Oliver Patent #562,337. Patent granted June 16, 1896

Article page nine of the Thomas Oliver Patent #562,337. Patent granted June 16, 1896

Article page eight of the Thomas Oliver Patent #562,337. Patent granted June 16, 1896

Article page eleven of the Thomas Oliver Patent #562,337. Patent granted June 16, 1896

Article page six of the Thomas Oliver Patent #562,337. Patent granted June 16, 1896

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Article page four of the Thomas Oliver Patent #562,337. Patent granted June 16, 1896

Article page three of the Thomas Oliver Patent #562,337. Patent granted June 16, 1896

Article page two of the Thomas Oliver Patent #562,337. Patent granted June 16, 1896

Article page one of the Thomas Oliver Patent #562,337. Patent granted June 16, 1896

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Page eight of the Thomas Oliver Patent #562,337. Patent granted June 16, 1896

In addition to manufacturing typewriters, Oliver Typwriter company offered repair services for their machines. The men have various typewriters, parts, and tools at their workstations.

Ed Field is seated first in the row to the right of the window…

c.1910 photograph of factory employees in front of the Oliver Typewriter Company's factory building in Woodstock, IL.

In 1903 the Oliver Typewriter Company formed its own fire department for the factory located in Woodstock, IL. On many occasions the Oliver Fire Department assisted in extinguishing fires in town alongside the City of Woodstock’s fire department.

Page six of the Thomas Oliver Patent #562,337. Patent granted June 16, 1896

Page five of the Thomas Oliver Patent #562,337. Patent granted June 16, 1896

Page six of the Thomas Oliver Patent #562,337. Patent granted June 16, 1896

Page five of the Thomas Oliver Patent #562,337. Patent granted June 16, 1896

Page one of the Thomas Oliver Patent #562,337. Patent granted June 16, 1896

Photograph of the 1902 Oliver Typewriter semi-pro baseball team regarded as one of the best teams in the Midwest at the time.

In 1907, a factory straightening department was a finishing workspace where workers manually trued, flattened, or unbent metal components. Because early stamping presses and heat-treating caused metal parts to warp, these workers used hammers, screw…

A very large group of employees pose in the Main Assembling Department in the 1907 Medlar series. Vice President and Superintendent John Whitworth is fourth from the right in the front row.

Men pose with their Brown & Sharpe screw machines in the Oliver Typewriter factory. These mechanical, multiple-spindle lathes used gears and cams to automatically form, thread, and cut small metal parts from bar stock.

On the back, Lynn Dibbler is…

Men assemble the final product in this department, putting the finished Oliver Typewriter Model 5 on the board in front of them, complete with paper on the platen.

Medlar 1907 series

8 sheets, sheet 5

Page two of the Thomas Oliver Patent #562,337. Patent granted June 16, 1896