Article was originally compiled by past East Peoria Historical Society President Frank Borror in 2015.

East Peoria was once the home of one of the premier producers of washing machines in the world. Altorfer Bros. Company built a manufacturing plant in East Peoria in 1914. It was located on 35 acres of land where Caterpillar sits today. The company had been founded in Roanoke, Illinois in 1909 by Silas H. and Alpheus W. Altorfer, eldest sons of hardware owner Henry Altorfer. The young men, after observing a demonstration of a washing machine built by a blacksmith believed they could build a better product. Using metal parts from their father’s hardware and wood from packing boxes the young men built their first washing machine in the basement of the store. It consisted of a wooded tub mounted on a bench and used a four-fingered wood “dolly” on the underside of the lid to produce washing action. For power, it was connected by belt to a gasoline engine. News of the “washing machine” spread to neighbors and soon there was a demand that was so great the brothers purchased an old school building, hired several helpers, and started producing the Roanoke Power Machine. The brothers soon discovered the market was rural because city and village residents did not have access to gasoline engines. They mounted washers and gasoline engines on horse-drawn spring wagons and sent salesmen out to the farmers. They even designed early models that could be powered by jacking up a tractor, removing a wheel, and driving their washer with a belt. Acceptance was so great that within two years they were producing two thousand machines and built a new factory. By 1912 production topped three thousand and jumped to seven thousand the very next year. It became obvious that in order to expand, they needed a location with better roads and railway service, a larger pool of workers, and nearby suppliers. It was at this time they purchased thirty acres of Johnson Cole land adjacent to Herschel Manufacturing in East Peoria and employed Allen and Son to construct a new plant at 950 West Washington. Within five years they added a second plant at this location and by 1925 were recognized as the premier producer of washing machines. By 1928 the plant contained over 136,500 square feet of production space and following WWII, at the peak of production, employed 1,250 employees and produced two washing machines per minute. That was the amazing rate of one machine per day per employee.

By the time the company moved to East Peoria it was operating as Altorfer Bros. Company and producing A.B.C. washing machines. In 1928 A.B.C. acquired the Federal Washing Machine Company of Chicago and started also producing washing machines for Insull Utilities Company under the brand name of Fedelco. In 1930 the company opened a factory in Canada and a branch factory and distribution center in California.

Silas Altorfer, oldest of the Altorfer brothers served as president until his death in 1934. Silas conducted the sales and promotion arm of A.B.C. and certainly is recognized for their phenomenal growth. A.B.C. has the distinction of shipping the first railroad carload of washing machines, a feat that was unheard of at that time. He followed that by shipping an entire trainload, thirty cars containing washing machines to a distributor in California in 1919. Within nineteen years the company was worldwide with 4,200 merchants in the United States and Canada stocking and selling their products. 

A.W. Altorfer, Silas’ younger brother by two years, was the innovator of the two. He developed more than a hundred patents over the years. One of his earliest was the swinging wringer that allowed the wringer to be positioned over the rinse tub as well as the washer. This set apart the machine for other washers. Under his tutelage, A.B.C. produced many industry firsts, including: all metal washing machines, machine cut gears, case-hardened steel at wear points, porcelain tubs, and the “touch release wringer.” A.W.’s ingenuity in production techniques allowed A.B.C. to produce quality products at a reasonable cost. During the Depression, the most popular model sold for fifty dollars.

During World War II, manufacturing came to a halt for many businesses that could no longer get steel, including Altorfer Bros. Co. Instead, companies had to focus on producing armaments for the war, A.B.C. had a special place in history when it produced the artillery shell that was able to pierce the previously impenetrable German tanks. On Feb. 6, 1943, the United States Army awarded A.B.C. with the Army-Navy E Flag Award.

Henry Altorfer, younger brother of Silas and A.W., became vice president following Silas’death and served in that capacity until A.W. retired in 1952. Henry then ascended to president. 

Following WWII, the development of detergents made automatic washers attractive and A.B.C. was a forerunner in the production of the ABC-O-Matic. This machine was designed and patented not by A.W. but by his son, A.W. Jr.(Bill) Altorfer, and joined the conventional washers, an ironing machine, the spinner, and a dryer in making a complete line of home laundry appliances. The end of WWII also left many large manufacturing companies with excess manufacturing facilities and equipment produced during the war effort. One way these firms could take advantage of these idle assets was to expand into the home laundry field. Companies such as Westinghouse, who bought their washers from A.B.C., began to produce their own. Frigidaire and General Electric followed suit. They had the marketing advantage of a complete line of appliances and they put the pressure on dealers to discontinue carrying single-line appliances. In order to compete, A.B.C. would need to expand its line to include refrigerators, stoves, freezers, and dishwashers and did not have the resources to gain the capital for such expansion. Even with zooming sales of the ABC-O-Matic, A.B.C. sold to the Kelvinator Division of Nash-Kelvinator in 1952 and began manufacturing products under the Kelvinator brand as well. The plant operated for another six years in East Peoria, but in 1959 production moved to Grand Rapids. In 1976, the site was razed to make room for a Caterpillar data processing center.