My father drove me to the shut down A.C. Gilbert factory in New Haven. Erector sets were a BIG deal in CT. Before LEGO hit the U.S., there was a U.S. based version called “ELGO”. The bricks were thinner, wider and longer, and mostly had ridged sides. They snapped together very well, though. They came in round cardboard tubes with metal lids like Tinker Toys did. That’s what I grew up on. ELGO.
We had a set when we were kids, although I did not remember the name. Born in ‘58.