Mt. Olive pickles are a ‘big dill’ in eastern N.C.

You might say pickles are a “Southern food,” because America’s largest independent pickle packing company is based in Mount Olive, a small town at the bottom of Wayne County in eastern North Carolina. 

This is the home of Mt. Olive Pickle Company, Inc., and the company headquarters really is on the corner of Cucumber and Vine.

 

The 500 or so year-round Mt. Olive “pickle people” who work in the fields, canning plants, distribution centers and offices are proud to be observing the company’s 95-year anniversary in 2021. 

The official company color is described as “sassy-grass green.” That sets the tone for the “corporate culture” of the place. 

Mt. Olive pickles used to be available in just the southeastern part of the United States. But now, products are sold in all 50 states.

 

Mt. Olive recently took over second place in total pickle jar sales – surpassing Claussen and trailing only Vlasic. (Both of these primary competitors are owned by giant corporations.)

The pickle people at Mt. Olive are more concerned about being “the most loved pickle company,” offering its customers a diverse line of pickles, peppers and relishes in more than 80 combinations and flavors. 

The personable company mascot, Ollie Q. Cumber is the “ambassador of fun.”

 

As the Mt. Olive official “spokespickle,” Ollie says he has found his dream job. “And I couldn’t be happier! In fact, I’m dill-irious! Mt. Olive Pickles are pickle-icious!” (No surprise here: Among his favorite hobbies, Ollie lists pickleball.) 

Just for the record, there are no olives at Mt. Olive, and there are no mountains in sight. 

Town historians say a small settlement popped up here after the railroad came through. The Wilmington & Weldon Railroad was completed by 1840. 

The little village needed a name when the post office was established in 1853, so a leading citizen, Benjamin Oliver, who was a devout Baptist, selected Mount Olive, as a tribute to the biblical Mount of Olives. 

During the Civil War, Union troops burned down the railroad depot and busted up the railroad tracks, but Mount Olive bounced back and was chartered in 1870. 

Ironically, the original “pickle person” was Shikrey Baddour, who had come to America from Lebanon in the Holy Land region. He saw a market for taking excess cucumbers from the field and putting them in tanks to make salt brined cucumbers into pickles. 

Baddour recruited George Moore, an experienced pickle-maker, to come up from New Hanover County, to join him in this enterprise. They struggled to make a go of it in the mid-1920s. 

To the rescue in 1926, a group of 37 Mount Olive investors put their money down to create a “community pickle company.” 

Isham Faison Witherington, who owned a local insurance company, emerged as the company’s leader, and he successfully ran the operation for about three decades. Upon Witherington’s death in 1955, Johnny Neal Walker, 31, was selected as Mt. Olive’s pickle president. 

Walker, who hailed from Graham, N.C., had earned an MBA degree from Harvard University.

 A writer at Encyclopedia.com said: “Walker was a serious businessman who was lighthearted about pickles. He became known for his pickle paraphernalia, and pun-laced conversation and correspondence, habitually closing letters with ‘Dill then.’” 

“More than anyone, he fashioned Mt. Olive’s long-time marketing approach emphasizing that pickles are fun, based on his belief that consumers don’t view pickles as a staple item.” 

What’s your favorite pickle pun or joke? 

Why shouldn’t you shoot pool using a pickle? Because you’ll find the cue cumbersome.

Is ‘zip code-ology’ a legitimate scientific pursuit?

Newton Falls, Ohio, is proud of its unique niche in U.S. postal history. The community is the only village in the United States that has a zip code with all five numbers being identical – 44444. 

It has been that way since the zip code system was introduced by the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) in 1963. 

Located in the northeastern corner of Ohio near Youngstown, Newton Falls has a population of about 4,444. It attracts visitors who are traveling along the Ohio Turnpike (Interstate 80) between Cleveland, Ohio, and Pittsburgh, Pa. 

Many come to drive across Newton Falls’ 117-foot-long covered bridge, which was constructed in 1831 over the East Branch of the Mahoning River. 

Among the “bridge superlatives,” the Newton Falls covered bridge is the second-oldest surviving covered bridge in Ohio, the oldest still in use on its original site and the oldest covered bridge in the state with a covered crosswalk. (The crosswalk was added in 1921-22 for the safety of students walking to school.)

 

A settlement began to sprout up along the river here in 1802, and it was known as Duck Creek. The first families came from Newtown, Conn. 

They found that two waterfalls on the branches of the Mahoning River provided a good power source for assorted mills (grist, flax, woolen, cotton and saw). 

Additionally, the Mahoning Canal passed through Newton Falls on its way from New Castle, Pa., to Akron, Ohio, so the village became a manufacturing and transportation hub. 

When the United States entered World War I in 1917, the steel industry came to Newton Falls. Founded in 1919, Newton Steel Company employed 1,200 people by 1923. Unfortunately, during the Great Depression, the plant closed in 1931. 

The construction of the Ravenna Arsenal in the early 1940s, just a few miles west of Newton Falls, had a major impact on the village. 

Spanning more than 21,000 acres, the arsenal was built to produce bombs and large-caliber artillery for World War II. (The arsenal, now known as Camp Ravenna Joint Military Training Center, is currently being licensed to the Ohio Army National Guard for use as a training site, according to the local library.)

In 1965, a General Motors automobile complex was constructed six miles away in Lordstown, Ohio. Many Newton Falls residents work at that site or in supply companies for the auto industry. 

Perhaps most importantly, Newton Falls (44444) is “half-way” to the North Pole. Santa Claus’ official zip code is 88888.

 

The USPS designated 88888 exclusively for jolly St. Nicholas, in order to ensure that children’s Christmas lists and letters don’t end up in the dreaded DLO (dead letter office). 

Here’s the scoop: All correspondence to Santa should be addressed to Santa Claus, 123 Elf Road, North Pole 88888. (Monitor the “Operation Santa” website for information about the 2021 mailing deadline.) 

The USPS officially launched Operation Santa in New York City in 1912, authorized by Postmaster General Frank Harris Hitchcock of Amherst, Ohio. He was appointed by U.S. President William Howard Taft of Cincinnati, Ohio. 

Hitchcock directed local postmasters to open letters to Santa and allow postal employees to read and respond. Operation Santa gave rise to the Santa Claus Association in New York. That group found hundreds of volunteers to answer letters and deliver gifts to children. 

A USPS spokesperson said the purpose of Operation Santa is to “encourage individuals, groups and organizations to ‘adopt a letter’ and help a child or family have a happy holiday when they otherwise might not.” 

Inventor Stephanie Kwolek led DuPont to ‘Kevlar’

Stephanie Louise Kwolek earned her bachelor’s degree in 1946 from Margaret Morrison Carnegie College, the women’s college for Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pa. She majored in chemistry. 

She planned to become a physician and hoped she could earn enough money from a temporary job in a chemistry-related field to attend medical school. 

She managed to get an interview after college graduation with DuPont’s research director Dr. W. Hale Charch. It went fairly well. She was assertive. 

He said she could expect to hear back from him in a few weeks. She became ultra-assertive. 

“With great boldness, I said to him, ‘I wonder if you could possibly tell me sooner because there is another company that wants me to decide whether I should come and work for them,’” Kwolek recalled. 

“He called in his secretary and he dictated the letter to me while I was sitting there, and offered me the job.” Kwolek accepted a position with the company and was assigned to DuPont’s research laboratory in Buffalo, N.Y. 

Dan Samorodnitsky, senior editor at Massive Science a digital scientific research media company, reported: “Kwolek intended to only work at DuPont temporarily, but found the work so interesting and challenging that she remained with the company for more than 40 years.”

 

So much for medical school. She found another way to make a difference and serve humanity, and she was transferred after a few years to DuPont’s flagship lab in Wilmington, Del. 

“Ten years into her permanent career as a chemist, Kwolek was cooking up synthetic fibers in search of a replacement for the steel used in tires,” Samorodnitsky wrote. “DuPont wanted something lighter to improve gas mileage. What Kwolek came up with was thin, opaque and milky.” 

“The result was astounding. What she had made was stiff, five times stronger than steel and resistant to fire.” Kwolek was timid about telling management, because “she was afraid the tests were wrong and she didn’t want to be embarrassed.” 

“When I did tell management, they didn’t fool around. They immediately assigned a whole group to work on different aspects (of the material),” she said. 

Samorodnitsky wrote: “That group eventually refined Kwolek’s work into Kevlar, a 1965 invention credited with saving thousands of lives and making DuPont billions of dollars.” 

Her invention is used primarily in bulletproof vests to protect lives military, law enforcement and first-responder personnel.

“I never in a thousand years expected that little liquid crystal to develop into what it did,” Kwolek said.

 She retired from DuPont in 1986, having attained 17 patents. She said the impact of her work, however, was her greatest reward. 

“When I look back on my career, I’m inspired most by the fact that I was fortunate enough to do something that would be of benefit to mankind. It’s been an extremely satisfying discovery. I don’t think there’s anything like saving someone’s life to bring you satisfaction and happiness.” 

Kwolek was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1995, and she viewed that as “one of the highest honors in the United States.” 

“I think there is a great need for recognition of scientists and other people who really do things that benefit society. Although sports bring great enjoyment, I don’t think the benefits derived in any way approach those gained from discoveries in medicine, chemistry or physics.” 

Stephanie Kwolek never married. She died at her home in Wilmington, Del., in 2014 at age of 90. 

She clearly earned a spot as one of the five “Lady Edisons” of American inventiveness.

 

Salute the ‘Lady Edisons’ who excelled in ‘applied sciences’

Joining Buelah Louise Henry, Margaret Eloise Knight and Josephine Garis Cochran as top-notch female inventors who qualified as “Lady Edisons” are scientists Katharine Burr Blodgett and Stephanie Louise Kwolek. 

Katharine Blodgett’s father, who was General Electric’s chief patent attorney died tragically shortly before she was born in 1898 in Schenectady, N.Y. Her widowed mother moved to France in 1901 with Katharine and her older brother, George Jr. The children quickly gained fluency in French and competency in German. The family settled in New York City in 1912. 

In 1917, during her senior year at Bryn Mawr (Pa.) College, Katharine inquired about employment opportunities at GE, and Dr. Irving Langmuir, a staff chemist, urged her to earn an advanced degree. 

She earned a master’s degree in chemistry in 1918 at the University of Chicago and was hired to work in Dr. Langmuir’s research laboratory – the first woman scientist hired by GE.

 After six years at the company, Katharine Blodgett decided to pursue a doctoral degree with hopes of advancing further within GE. She was accepted to study at Cambridge University in England. In 1926, she became the first woman to receive a Ph.D. in physics from Cambridge. 

Dr. Blodgett returned to the GE lab and eventually began experimenting with glass. In 1938, she discovered a way to make a glass surface “invisible” to the human eye, using a thin layer of film that canceled out the light reflection without compromising the transparency of the glass.

 She received a U.S. patent for “invisible glass,” and her contributions to research in this field led to the application of glass surface film to optical equipment, lenses, windshields, picture frames and other glass products. 

During World War II, Dr. Blodgett’s research shifted towards defense applications. She aided in the improvement of gas masks, developed a machine to protect soldiers in combat by creating larger and longer lasting smoke screens and researched methods to reduce the hazard of icing on airplane wings. 

Dr. Katharine Burr Blodgett retired from GE in 1963. She never married. She died at home in Schenectady in 1979, at age 81. 

One of her coworkers, Vincent J. Schaefer, recalled that “the methods she developed have become classical tools of the science and technology of surfaces and films. She will be long – and rightly – hailed for the simplicity, elegance, and the definitive way in which she presented them to the world.”

 

Dr. Katharine Burr Blodgett was inducted posthumously into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2007.

Stephanie Louise Kwolek was born in 1923, the daughter of John and Nellie Kwolek, Polish immigrants, who were living in New Kensington, Pa., situated along the Allegheny River above Pittsburgh. 

“From her father, an amateur naturalist, she learned her love of science on their long walks through the woods together, identifying plants and wildlife. He died when Stephanie was just 10 years old,” reported Kiona N. Smith, a freelance science journalist.

 

“From her mother, a seamstress, Stephanie learned her love of textiles and fiber arts. At a young age, she considered a career in fashion, but her mother warned that she was too much of a perfectionist to be a designer.” 

“Instead, Stephanie Kwolek chose chemistry, a field for perfectionists if there ever was one,” Smith said. 

She was determined to become a physician. We’ll have to see how that turned out.

Dishwasher invention observes its 135-year anniversary

 Josephine Garis Cochran invented the first “woman-approved kitchen dishwasher” in 1886.

 Two attempts had been made before that, both by men, but their machines fizzled out because they were poorly designed. 

Born in Ashtabula, Ohio, in 1839, the daughter of John Garis and Irene Fitch Garis, Josephine had the genes it took to become an inventor.

 

Her father was a civil engineer who had invented a hydraulic pump for draining marshes. He also had a great business sense, supervising a number of woolen mills, sawmills and gristmills along the Ohio River. Her great grandfather, John Fitch, is credited with inventing the steamboat.

“Even as a young girl, Josephine was determined to find a technological solution to any problem presented – and if one didn’t exist – to invent it,” her biographers reported. 

Josephine finished high school while living with her older sister, Irene Garis Ransom, in Shelbyville, Ill. Josephine became the 19-year-old bride of William Cochran. He was a successful dry goods merchant and local politician. 

Josephine and William enjoyed entertaining in their large and stylish home in Shelbyville. They possessed an antique collection of fine china. Josephine despised the tedious task of washing those dishes ever so carefully. 

Surely, she said in 1883, there had to be a mechanical solution to make her job easier. Not just for herself, but for all women who dreaded the drudgery of hand-washing and drying dishes. 

When William took ill and died later in 1883, he left “Josephine as a widow short on cash and long on debts.” 

Essayist Ann McCrackin, a modern-day patent lawyer in Minneapolis, Minn., noted: “Suddenly, Josephine Cochran’s project of inventing a viable dishwashing machine was no longer a dream but an urgent financial necessity.” 

“Finding competent help proved difficult,” reported the communications staff at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office staff in Alexandria, Va. Josephine stated: “I couldn’t get men to do the things I wanted in my way until they had tried and failed in their own.” 

“They knew I knew nothing, academically, about mechanics, and they insisted on having their own way with my invention until they convinced themselves my way was the better, no matter how I had arrived at it.” 

She eventually found her guy. He was George Butters, a mechanic with the Illinois Central Railroad. Together, they built Josephine’s dishwashing machine in a backyard woodshed in 1886. 

For visitors attending the world expo in Chicago in 1893, the exhibit that “turned heads” in Machinery Hall “was a strange-looking contraption of gears, belts and pulleys that would vanish a cage full of more than 200 dirty dishes, only to reappear two minutes later as clean as if they had been hand-washed.” 

The exposition’s judges were so impressed with the “Cochrane Dish Washing Machine” that they awarded it the highest prize for “best mechanical construction, durability and adaptation to its line of work.”

 

(At some point, Josephine changed the spelling of her last name to add an “e” to the end to “assert her independence.”)

Josephine Cochran sold nine of them on the spot to people who were running kitchens at the expo. 

Orders spiked from restaurants and hotels throughout Illinois and neighboring states, and Josephine later found willing customers in hospitals and colleges due to their strict sanitation requirements. 

In 1897, she set up Cochran’s Crescent Washing Machine Company, managed by Butters. Many Shelbyville residents invested as shareholders. Cochran managed her company until she died in 1913 at age 74.

 

The rights to her dishwashing machine company were acquired in 1926 by the Hobart Manufacturing Company, which produced dishwashers under the KitchenAid brand. In 1986, KitchenAid was acquired by the Whirlpool Corporation.

Inventors light the way for humankind

Everyone knows that Thomas Alva Edison, who lived from 1847-1931, was the “quintessential American inventor.” He held 1,093 U.S. patents and was known as “the Wizard of Menlo Park,” a reference to the name of his research laboratory in Edison Township, N.J. 

Edison and his research team members, whom he fondly termed “muckers,” invented the phonograph, the motion picture camera and early versions of the electric light bulb.

 Thomas Edison was born in Milan, Ohio, and “nobody would have thought he was destined for greatness,” commented U.S. Sen. Bob Portman of Ohio. “He was the nearly deaf son of a shingle maker and a schoolteacher.” 

“Edison tried a number of different materials for his light bulb before finding one that worked. He said: ‘I have not failed, I have just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.’”

Mina Miller and Thomas Edison were married in 1886.

Sen. Portman wrote: “One estimate in the 1920s – while he was still living – stated that Edison’s inventions had already created more than 1 million jobs.” 

“His method for coming up with these new ideas for inventions was simple: ‘I find out what the world needs, and then I go ahead and try to invent it.’” 

An inventor who came along 40 years after Edison shared that attitude…from the female perspective. She was Beulah Louise Henry of Raleigh, who lived from 1887-1973.

Beulah Louise Henry  

She was dubbed by the news media as “Lady Edison” in the 1930s, racking up about 110 inventions and 49 patents. 

Ann McCrackin, a patent attorney in Minneapolis, Minn., acknowledged that Beulah Henry may have been the darling of early female inventors, but there are at least four other “Lady Edisons” in her mind.

Ann McCrackin

 

One was Margaret “Mattie” Eloise Knight of York, Maine, who lived from 1838-1914. She and her two brothers were raised in Manchester, N.H., by her widowed mother. They all worked at a cotton textile mill in town. 

In an interview with the Woman’s Journal in 1872, Knight recalled her unconventional youth: 

“As a child, I never cared for things that girls usually do; dolls never possessed any charms for me. The only things I wanted were a jack-knife, a gimlet and pieces of wood. I was always making things for my brothers; did they want anything in the line of playthings, they always said: ‘Mattie will make them for us.’ I was famous for my kites; and my sleds were the envy and admiration of all the boys in town.”

 

Margaret Knight took a job at Columbia Paper Bag Company in Springfield, Mass., in 1867, and observed that the envelope-style bags were weak and narrow. Surely, she could mechanize the process to make sturdy, flat-bottomed paper bags. 

She applied for a patent in 1871 and learned that her idea had been stolen by a Boston foundry worker named Charles Annan, who had already been granted a patent for the machine. 

Knight was the first woman to suffer patent infringement. She filed a patent interference suit. In the trial, Annan argued that Knight could not have been the inventor. As a woman, she “could not possibly understand the mechanical complexities of the machine,” he asserted. 

But Knight had full documentation, with drawings, paper patterns, diary entries, photographs, models, completed bags...and character witnesses. The truth was on her side. 

After 16 long days of testimony, the Commissioner of Patents was convinced that she should be granted the patent. On July 11, 1871, she was awarded Patent No. 116,842 for her Paper Bag Machine. 

It was the first of 89 patents in her illustrious career.

Beulah Henry was the ‘go-to’ inventor of her era

Beulah Louise Henry of Raleigh, N.C., who lived from 1887-1973, was hailed as the “mother of invention” by Our State magazine in its September 2021 edition. 

That was a grand tribute to the woman who was inducted posthumously into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2006.

 Beulah Louise Henry was one of the “favorite subjects” of the late Dr. Lenwood Gray Davis, a native of Beaufort, N.C., who became a distinguished author and history professor at Winston-Salem (N.C.) State University 

Writing for the North Carolina Museum of History’s Tar Heel Junior Historian magazine in 2006, Dr. Davis said: “Of all the women inventors in the United States, the one who invented more items than any other probably was Beulah Louise Henry.” 

She was credited with about 110 inventions and received 49 patents during her career. 

She revolutionized the toy industry with a baby doll. At first glance, 

most folks thought the doll was real.

What Dr. Davis said he remembered most about Beulah Louise is that “she spent most of her life proving men wrong about her ideas.” 

Beulah Louise Henry came from good, spunky stock. Her parents were Col. Walter R. Henry and Beulah Williamson Henry, who were both artistically inclined. 

Beulah Louise was a direct descendant of Patrick Henry of Virginia, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He was the American colonist who famously declared, “Give me liberty, or give me death!” 

In 1909, Beulah Louise enrolled in college in Charlotte, N.C., studying at both the North Carolina Presbyterian College for Women (now Queens University) and Elizabeth College. 

By 1912, she had finished her classes and was successful in attaining her first patent for an ice cream freezer with a vacuum seal. It was a device that allowed one to make ice cream using ice, salt, milk and sugar without all the hand-cranking that was required previously. 

Dr. Davis said that in 1913, Beulah Louise introduced “one of her most well-known inventions – a parasol, or umbrella, that came with various snap-on covers. Users could change covers to match their outfits.”

 

One Charlotte-based manufacturer told Beulah Louise that such an umbrella was impossible to make. “She didn’t believe him and went on to prove him wrong,” Dr. Davis said. 

“It was just her nature,” Dr. Davis added. She said: “I invent because I cannot help it – new things just thrust themselves on me.” 

Beulah Louise moved to New York City in 1919 and set up one company to manufacture the umbrella products and another to serve as her laboratory. She employed mechanics, model makers and draftsmen to turn her ideas into prototypes. 

“I cannot make up my mind whether it is a drawback or an advantage to be so utterly ignorant of mechanics as I am,” she once revealed. “I know nothing about mechanical terms, and I am afraid I do make it rather difficult for the draftsmen to whom I explain my ideas, but in the factories where I am known, they are exceedingly patient with me because they seem to have a lot of faith in my inventiveness.” 

Indeed. By the end of the 1930s, Beulah Louise Henry had so many patents, she didn’t know what to do. It was symbolic of her diverse interests and multiple talents. 

Beulah Louise never married. She had a wide variety of other interests including writing and painting, but she was labeled by the news media as “Lady Edison.” 

It was intended as a positive compliment, singling her out as a female peer of inventor Thomas Edison.

 We’ll need to delve into that.

Texas university provides faith-based polytechnic training

Only one Christian polytechnic university in America was established by a businessman. It is LeTourneau University in Longview, Texas. 

The institution was founded in 1946 by industrialist and evangelist Robert Gilmour LeTourneau…with more than a little help from his wife, Evelyn Patterson LeTourneau. 

R.G. LeTourneau made a fortune in developing and building earthmoving machinery and heavy-duty vehicles for use in agriculture, mining, logging, road and bridge building and offshore oil drilling. 

His equipment also had military applications that helped win World War II for the Allies. 

As a devout Christian, LeTourneau had ventured from Peoria, Ill., to Longview to consider a manufacturing site for his company’s next earthmoving equipment factory. 

While flying over a sprawling complex of a vacated Army hospital consisting of more than 200 buildings, Evelyn LeTourneau inquired about the facility. When told it was no longer in use, she suggested establishing a school to educate returning World War II veterans. 

They agreed to establish an institute where veterans could receive training in technical trades in a hands-on, Christ-centered educational environment. 

Today, LeTourneau University (LETU) is regarded as the premier Christian polytechnic university in the country, and it is observing its 75-year anniversary in 2021.

 

This story has a North Carolina connection. The LeTourneaus formed a friendship with the Rev. Billy Graham while he was a student at Wheaton (Ill.) College from 1940-43. He worked as a summer youth camp counselor at Camp Bethany in Winona Lake, Ind., a facility that was established by the LeTourneau family foundation. 

R.G. LeTourneau hosted Rev. Graham on several occasions to deliver spiritual talks to employees at company factories. 

In a 1953 letter from Graham to Evelyn LeTourneau, he wrote: “I love you and Mr. R.G. more than any two people in the world,” describing the LeTourneaus as “more like a father and mother to me.”

 

Rev. Graham liked to tell about R.G. LeTourneau receiving a job order from the U.S. government for a “very complicated machine to be used in lifting airplanes. No machine of this type had ever been designed. LeTourneau and his engineers could not come up with a plan. After some time, everyone was becoming tense and nervous.” 

“Finally, on a Wednesday night,” Rev. Graham said, “LeTourneau told his staff that he was going to a prayer meeting. The engineers were upset, because they had a deadline and the boss was deserting them.” 

“Mr. R.G. said, ‘I’ve got a deadline with God.’ He went to the prayer meeting, sang the hymns, and prayed. Afterward, as he was walking home, the design of the machine in complete detail came into his mind. He needed time with God and creative silence to bring it to the surface.” 

Graham continued: “Sometimes we try so hard to solve our problems without taking them to God, and we become agitated or depressed. It pleases God when we express to him our thanks and gratitude for his guidance and direction.”

 

“Our work was never meant to become the center of our lives. That place belongs only to God, but he did give man work to do and the Bible tells us, ‘Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.’” Rev. Graham said: “There is dignity in work.” 

LeTourneau has an enrollment of about 3,175 students on its main campus in Longview who are reminded “Your Story Is Built Here.” The slogan is accompanied by a schematic drawing of a giant piece of earthmoving equipment designed by R.G. LeTourneau.

Illinois community remembers its ‘affordable housing’ pioneer

If ever there were a “mover of heaven and earth” in U.S. history, the title goes to Robert Gilmour LeTourneau, who was born in Richford, Vt., in 1888. 

In Peoria, Ill., his adopted hometown, he is heralded as the “dean of earthmoving” and “God’s businessman.”

 

As a boy, R.G. LeTourneau developed an interest in mechanical things. In 1909, he took an automobile correspondence course offered by the International Correspondence Schools (ICS) of Scranton, Pa. To demonstrate his mechanical talent, he took apart and put back together his newly acquired motorcycle in a day. 

After which, he granted himself a B.M. “Bachelor of Motorcycles” degree. 

His passion was to invent mechanisms associated with earthmoving equipment. He received 299 patents during his lifetime. His business in Stockton, Calif., formed an alliance with Caterpillar Tractor of Peoria, and LeTourneau produced attachments, scrapers and wagons for use with Cat crawler tractors.

 

LeTourneau was a pioneer in integrating faith and business. He was one of the leaders in establishing industrial chaplaincy. He and his wife were early practitioners of “reverse tithing” – giving 90% of their wealth to God and living on 10% of their earnings. 

Caterpillar persuaded LeTourneau to move his factory from Stockton to Peoria in 1935 to strengthen the business alliance between the two companies. 

LeTourneau discovered the men he hired struggled to find affordable housing in the Peoria area. He solved that problem by building a modern-day “mill village.” 

Criticizing traditional homes as being “ponderous, over-roomed houses of bulky beams and sheathings,” LeTourneau created the “Carefree Home.” 

“Compact, complete, convenient, economical and efficient. Still a shelter, still a sanctuary, still the family center, it must afford the conveniences of a first-class apartment or hotel suite,” he said. 

“It must be air conditioned, insulated not alone against cold and heat, but against storm, dust, termites, flood, flame and other foes. And it must be a trouble-proof house – a house requiring a minimum of maintenance – carefree.”

 

Here is a Carefree Home in Peoria that has been modernized and is still occupied.

These dwellings were made totally from steel and welded, not riveted. 

They were available for purchase by LeTourneau’s employees and the general public. Between 1936-38, about 150 all-steel homes were manufactured. The architect designed the houses with flat roofs and an occupiable roof deck. 

The houses came in three sizes: 576 square feet, 729 square feet and 900 square feet. The interior layout was similar – a kitchen, one bathroom, two bedrooms and a living room area. 

Today, more than 20 carefree homes still exist in the Peoria area as residential dwellings. Most have been modified with features such as front porches, pitched roofs, room additions and even second floors; however, the LeTourneau homes are readily identified by the consistent placement of their corner windows.

 One of the old carefree homes was discovered in 2015 at the former LeTourneau factory, now part of Komatsu America Corp. Never sold, the building was once used as a manufacturing office within the factory complex. 

Long abandoned, the carefree home was intended to be scrapped, but the Central Illinois Landmarks Foundation expressed interest, so Komatsu America gladly donated the house to the foundation. 

The structure was renovated through a collaborative partnership with the Peoria Historical Society and the Wheels O’ Time Museum in Peoria, which offered to relocate the carefree home to the museum grounds. The model carefree home exhibit opened to the public in 2018.

 

Could the carefree home concept be revisited here and now as a housing option? 

Typical “tiny houses” top out at about 400 square feet.