In 1959, Oliver International (The Export Division) stepped outside the box and planned a showing of Oliver equipment to be matched by none. For years I have heard about the Oliver World Congress but since it was only held one time, information seemed to be minimal. However, I happened to find the two men that are credited for putting that show together and recently visited with them to get the story right from the source. The first player in this story is a man that we all know so well, Sam White, Jr, who at the time was president of Oliver International. The next man in the story is John Scott who worked in the export division.

Sam wanted to put on a demonstration of all of the equipment that Oliver offered and bring all of their export distributors to witness them in action. But where would this magical event take place? From here I’ll let John Scott, the manager of the World Congress, tell you the story in his words.

“Sam called me one day and told me what he wanted to do. He said he would pick me up and we would go out looking for a place to have this. This was in the spring and it was a beautiful Saturday morning. I lived in Evanston, IL and Sam lived in Kenilworth, which was close by. I didn’t know at the time but my wife had went shopping and left me with our seven-year-old son so we just took him with us.”

“We ended up at Hawthorn-Mellody Farms which was just outside of Libertyville, IL, not far from Chicago. This was a 4800-acre dairy farm and we decided this was the best location for such a show. There were motels, restaurants, shopping centers and the airport was close by.”

“Sam contacted the owner, John Cuneo, and he said it was OK to use the farm but we had to see the farm manager. We picked up the farm manager and traveled all over the farm going over what I wanted and getting his OK for it.”

Watch your mailboxes for Issue # 18 of Oliver Heritage to finish reading all about the Oliver World Congress 1959!!! If you are not a subscriber, feel free to contact us or order online at Oliver Heritage's Store and make sure to get your copy of Issue # 18!!