The Greatest Highway in the World / Historical, Industrial and Descriptive Information of the Towns, Cities and Country Passed Through Between New York and Chicago Via the New York Central Lines. Based on the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

by New York Central Railroad Company

225 M. ILION, Pop. 10,169.

(Train 51 passes 1:10; No. 3, 2:10; No. 41, 6:29; No. 25, 7:25; No. 19, 10:51. Eastbound: No. 6 passes 4:12; No. 26, 4:46; No. 16, 10:07; No. 22, 12:05.)

This village, the main part of which is situated on the south bank of the Mohawk, owed its origin to a settlement made here in 1725 by Palatine Germans, but the village as such really dates from the completion of the Erie Canal in 1825. In 1828 Eliphalet Remington (1793-1861) established here a small factory for the manufacture of rifles. He invented, and with the assistance of his sons, Philo, Samuel and Eliphalet, improved the famous Remington rifle.

In 1856 the company added to its business the manufacture of farming tools, in 1870 of sewing machines and in 1874 of typewriters. The last-named industry was sold to another company in 1886, and soon afterwards, on the failure of the original Remington company, the fire arms factory was bought by a N.Y.C. firm, though the Remington name was retained. The spot where Eliphalet had his primitive forge on the Ilion gorge road, just south of the town, is marked by a tablet placed there by the Daughters of the American Revolution. The principal manufactures today are typewriters, fire-arms, cartridges, and filing cabinets and office furniture. The annual output is valued at about $10,000,000.