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With Loss of Maytag, Town Faces the Loss of Its Identity

NEWTON, Iowa, June 2 — In the cool, echoey halls of the history museum in this company town, the display cases are full of washing machines.

Here sits the Maytag Pastime, the 1907 wooden model. Over there, a later model that also served as an ice cream maker, a meat grinder and a butter churn. From 1982, the 25-millionth washer that Maytag made, still gleaming and pristine, and on and on.

In many ways, said Leland Smith, who guided a visitor through the exhibit halls, the story of the Maytag Company is the story of Newton.

Read entire article at NYT