history

Miller Gas Engine Co was founded by Charles A. Miller in 1897. Miller employed about 50 workers by 1901 and the name of the company was changed to Miller Improved Gas Engine Co. Miller died in 1909 and the company was taken over by Elmer Austin Watts. He redesigned the Miller engines. In 1913, knowing they needed to expand into another market, Watts introduced a compressor cylinder he had himself designed. Watts died in 1939 and by World War II, the big factory had passed to other hands. A small shop in Springfield continued to make replacement parts through the 1950s.