The Emerson Typewrite Company has a short but colorful history. Design work began while the company was located in Kittery, Maine. When America Company, manufacturers of miscellaneous novelties, including the Odell Model 5 typewriter, located in Momence, IL, went bankrupt and moved out, Emerson bought the factory and moved in. (For more information, see blog article in this website titled "Odell and His Typewriter".) In 1910, the company decided to move manufacturing to Woodstock, IL, after Woodstock contributed funds to build a new factory. In 1911, Alvah Curtis Roebuck, having left Sears-Roebuck, purchased the Emerson Typewriter Company in Woodstock, IL, and changed the name to Roebuck Typewriter Company. A new standard 4-bank machine was patented in 1915. While the patents were being processed in 1913, the company changed name again to Woodstock Typewriter Company, and went on to produce the Woodstock typewriter. In 1914, Roebuck sold the remaining Emerson inventory to Harry A. Smith, who sold the typewriters as "Smith" typewriters, thereby ending the line of Emerson typewriters on the market.