THE ELWOOD TURNER STORY

 The Elwood Turner Company was founded in 1978 by Ed Loewenton. Our Company makes toys and games - some traditional, some we designed.  They are made of wood: simple, sturdy, and handsome.  And everybody who works here is a quality control inspector.  The Elwood Turner Company makes a product of uncompromising quality, and sells it for a fair price.  This demands from our staff discipline, dedication, and a high level of skill and intelligence.

    Our Motto:  To Challenge, To Educate, To Entertain.  A toy should demand something of us; it should be good for something more than just passing a little time.  Just as with any experience, our enjoyment of a toy or game depends on the effort we bring to it.
The immediate pleasure is but a brief one: push a button and the toy does something.   That's not an ELWOOD TURNER toy!  Our toys reward a child's persistent effort.   The greatest joy, the most FUN, really, comes with achievement, after the risks, discomforts, and uncertainties of beginning.  This philosophy can be brought to the design of toys: growing and discovering are fun.
Where there are no consequences, there is no learning. Our children must be safe from injury, both physical and psychological.  Beyond that, it is necessary for us to re-learn, and to teach our children by example, the difference between injury and discomfort, effort, the postponement of gratification, inconvenience, a brief anxiety.

A long time ago, a little boy named Elwood watched as  his Grandfather worked at his Bodger's Lathe, powered by a rope tied to a springy Tree Limb. Grandfather used the Hardwoods from the Forest near their House to make Useful Things for the People of the nearby Town. Elwood saw the pride that Grandfather took in making Things that would please the People who bought them. When Elwood grew up, he never forgot Grandfather's Philosophy: to make things that were good to look at, long lasting, and above all, useful.  All his life, Elwood has preached these Values of American Craftsmanship at its best.

Elwood Turner is an old-fashioned, hard-working fellow who likes kids, and believes in a future worth working towards, and a past worth preserving.  Elwood no longer does the actual work here - he's very old - but he visits late at night to inspect what we do, making sure that our work meets his high standards.  He says he's a great-great-great-grand-nephew of Davy Crockett.  Could be.   But a distant cousin of Santa Claus on his mother's side?  We're not so sure.