The History of the Ober
Manufacturing Company

A book by Don Barribal
$11.00
plus $2.50 shipping & handling
42 pages, perfect bound, size 8.5” x 11”

Three generations of the Ober Family - George, Archie and Gale - took a small sawmill from SouthNewbury, Ohio to Chagrin Falls Village, whose timber was plentiful, and developed the largest industrial manufacturing company in the village.

They began by dealing in lumber, producing shingles and manufacturing handles for hammers, etc. George Ober’s genius was in inventing a series of lathes that would eventually mass produce wooden handles for hammers, pickaxes, sledges, and other irregularly-shaped items.

In addition, he began to manufacture and sell the lathes he developed to a world-wide market from Canada and Mexico, to Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Next came the Sad-irons and George Ober’s invention of detachable wooden handles to spare housewives the discomfort of having to deal with the very hot iron handles of the sad-irons.

The company built machine shops for the lathes and foundries for the sad-irons, trivets and iron banks and toys.

Ober Manufacturing Co. became the largest employer in the industrial mill town of Chagrin Falls, and contributed greatly to the development and prosperity of today’s village.