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The History
The old olive oil facory was a working and steam-powered olive oil press and corn flour mill in Vathy, in the area of Petalata-Dimarxeio, in 1845. It stands now as it did then, with all the original machinery in tact. In a contract Dimitris Danis has acquired, it was first sold in 1923 for a mere 219.600 drachmas, about 600 English pounds. In 1923 a large generator was added to the olive press, which is 310,87 cm,to boost power on an island that up until recently was still suffering under power failures. The generator engine was manufactured in the UK in 1943 by Rustom and Hornsby Ltd. and still stands proud with it's Lincoln plate.
Ithacans, young and old, worked hard in this factory during the boom years of the island, before child labour was outlawed and laws regulating working conditions, unheard of. The Olive Oil Factory still holds many memories for hundreds of Ithacans who had worked there over the many years in the 20th century and who's parents and grandparents laboured there before them during the 19th century.
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