E. R. Ives founded the Ives company in 1868; over its 60 years in business, the company went through seven name changes and made a variety of toys including moveable tinplate figures, and cast-iron vehicles. It is perhaps best known for its wind-up and electric trains. The Ives company, in fact, pioneered the making of electrically powered toy trains. Though Ives trains first appeared in a 1-gauge model, it established the O gauge as the popular American track measurement. Ives declared bankruptcy in 1929, and Lionel, its fierce competitor, took it over, using the Ives name for some of its products for several years. Ives offered this particular wind-up O-gauge train set, called the Hiawatha, Although the museum has other Ives trains, this is the only complete set in its original box. The set dates from 1904 to 1908,