Ocassionally I am approached by a collector looking for information on the Raby cabs that were on the Oliver 70. Up until this time, I personally knew nothing about the company other than it was established in Table Grove, Illinois. I had seen a few of the cabs at shows but even those folks knew little about Raby. So the search began.

The first place that I looked was on the internet. Much to my amazement, there was nothing. So I contacted the Fulton County Historical Society where Table Grove was located. Even they knew very little about the company. So the very helpful lady on the other end of the phone gave me a few phone numbers of local historians.

I called the first number and got an answering machine where I left my name and number. I called the second number and still was unable to reach anyone. A few hours later I received a return phone call from a man named Bill Cassiday. I told him what I was looking for and told him that I would be in town the next day to start digging for information. He agreed to meet me at 10AM at the local gas station in Table Grove.

Table Grove only has a population of 400 people, so it wasn’t to hard to find Bill. When a stranger rolls into town, everyone knows it. We sat down at a table and he filled me in on what he knew about Raby. When he was finished he said “Do you want to see his place?” “It’s still around?!” He told me to turn around and look out the window. Just across the street was a glazed block building resembling that of an old dealership. Not only was I looking at the plant and Raby’s home, but I was standing in the gas station that Guy Raby used to manage in the 1930’s. The gas station was quite the hot spot in town as right behind the station was the most elaborate miniature golf course around. It was complete with fountains and ponds and other obstacle courses. However, it was not called miniature golf. It’s known around town as “Runt Golf”.