OVALTINE.

OVALTINE. Vikki Oritz, who wrote the article on the Roarin’ Elgin that I posted on here, has an article on the Ovaltine plant in Villa Park, Illinois, which was also part of my youth. Villa Park was next to Elmhurst, Illinois, where I grew up. I learned that the Ovaltine plant, where the chocolate drink was manufactured, had closed in 1987. The plant had been located in Villa Park partly because of the access to two railroads (the Northwestern and the Roarin’ Elgin). I had friends who worked at the Ovaltine plant in the summers, and they told me that they were told the jobs were dangerous. The plant was quite hot, and there were stories about an unfortunate worker who had been overcome by heat and fallen into chocolate powder and died. I could never decide whether the stories were true.