1837: Grand Detour, Illinois, John Deere, a blacksmith from Vermont had achieved great success when he engineered the self-scouring plow.
1847: The Case Corporation was founded by Jerome Increase Case and started out by selling threshing machines.
1849: Girard, Iowa, the inventor of the gasoline powered farm tractor, John Froelich was born. Froelich’s invention was perfected by the Waterloo Tractor company.
1850:
1853: La Porte, Indiana, Rumely Manufactured Threshers and later steam engines.
1860:
1868: Deere & Company was founded by John Deere.
1869: Case began manufacturing steam engines.
1870:
1878: Case introduced its first steam traction engine.
1880:
1886: John Deere, Dies at the age of 82.
1890:
1892: The first successful gasoline-powered farm tractor was invented by John Froelich in Clayton County, Iowa
1893: Waterloo was founded as the Waterloo Gasoline Traction Engine Company, with John Froelich as the driving force.
1894: Georgia, Snapper started as Southern Saw works.
1899: FIAT was founded as an automobile manufacturing company.
1900:
1901: The Allis-Chalmers Company was formed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, by the merger of the Edward P. Allis Company, Fraser and Chalmers Company, Gates Iron Works, and Dickson Manufacturing Company. Allis-Chalmers was an industrial conglomerate, manufacturing farm, mining, and industrial equipment.
1902: Minneapolis Steel & Machinery Company was founded. Building steel sections for bridges and other structures.
1902: Wallis Tractor was founded by Henry Wallis, the son-in-law of Jerome Case."Henry Wallis was also the president of the Case Plow Works, which had been founded by J.I. Case."
1902: The International Harvester Company was formed by the merger of the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company and the Deering Harvester Company.1910:
1910:
1910: The first Internal Combustion tractor at the company was built w/an oil cooled engine.
1910: Cletrac, INC., a manufacturer of tractors for military and civilian use, was organized by Clarence and Rollin White as the Cleveland Motor Plow Co. C & R, White also started the White Motor Company.
1910: Fabbrica Italiana di Automobili Torino (FIAT) began developing tractors, but was delayed by World War I.
1911: John P. Gilson and his brother Michael Gilson started Gilson Brothers Co.
1911: Rumely and the Advance thresher Co. merged to become Advance-Rumely.
1913: The Waterloo Gasoline Traction Engine company re-entered the tractor market with its Waterloo Boy tractor.
1912: The company was formally organized in Racine, Wisconsin. "The Wallis Tractor was built and sold by the Case Plow Works."
1914: Toro began in Minneapolis Minnesota producing engines for the Bull TC.
1914-1918 During WW1, Toro was involved in the production of Steam engines.
1916: Dunbar, WV, The Gravely Motor Plow Company was founded and manufactured two-wheel walking tractors.
1917 : Fordson was a trade name for tractors built by Henry Ford in the first half of the twentieth century
1918: Deere & Company purchased Waterloo Gasoline Traction Engine company for $2.34 million.
1918: The first tractor sold and marketed by John Deere was the Waterloo Boy Model N, following Deere & Company's acquisition of the Waterloo Gasoline Engine Co.
1919: The first FIAT farm tractor, the 702, had begun production.
1920:
1920: Toro focused production on golf course and lawn maintenance.
1920<: Advance-Rumely attempted to enter the small tractor market
1921: Homelite was founded.
1922: Portland Oregon, The Wagner Bros began building Machinery for logging and mining.
1923: The Model "D" & "Johnny Poppers": The iconic two-cylinder Model D launched, giving rise to the famous "Johnny Popper" sound and nickname that lasted through 1960.
The Model D was the first official tractor to actually bear the John Deere name and the signature green and yellow paint scheme
1924: the International Harvester line of tractors called The Farmall begins, and sparked a revolution in tractor design.
1925: The Caterpillar Tractor Company was formed with the merger of the Holt and Best companies. “Both had been independently developing and manufacturing tracked machinery, Holt having acquired the patents of the Hornsby company of England, which had also developed early tracked steam engines.”
1928-1964 : Production moved to the UK and the Fordson name was used in that market until Ford merged the North American and European lines under the Ford name.
1928: Case Plow Works was sold to Massey-Harris, Massey took over production of the Wallis tractor.
1929: Minneapolis Moline was formed by the merger of Minneapolis Steel and Machinery, the Minneapolis Threshing Machine Company, and the Moline Plow Company. Twin City was the brand name for tractors built by Minneapolis Steel & Machinery Company. For many years after the merger, Minneapolis-Moline tractors continued to carry the Twin City name. MS&M had a large boost when it received contracts to build Case and Bull tractors,
1929: Oliver was formed from the merger of; Oliver Chilled Plow, Hart-Parr, American Seeding Machine, and, Nichols & Shepard.1930:
1930:
1930: The first Oliver Tractor tractor was built.
1931: Advance-Rumely was purchased by Allis-Chalmers and stopped all production.
1932: Massey-Harris had continued to use the Wallis brand up to this point. When the
Massey-Harris name replaced it.
1935: Harold Pond, worked for Shaw Manufacturing, left Shaw Manufacturing, to form
the Pond tractor company and began producing Speedex walk-behind tractors in Ravenna, Ohio.
1936-1942: Albert City, Iowa, Thieman Harvester was organized by the Thieman
brothers and produced a variety of farm equipment. "Theiman offered an inexpensive kit tractor."
1937: Simplicity began manufacturing lawn equipment. Simplicity also produced
lawn equipment for Allis Chalmers.
1938: Harold Pond developed the Model B Speedex Riding tractor which would become
the first four-wheel garden tractor in America.
1939: The Ford brand was first used on tractors with the introduction of the 9N.1940:
1940:
1942: Thieman production shut down due to wartime steel shortages.
1944: Cletrac was purchased by Oliver.
>1945: Missouri, Max Swisher, designed his own makeshift lawn mower.
1945: Swisher developed the first self propelled lawn mower.
1946: Wisconsin, Economy tractors were built by Engineering Products Company (EPCO).
1946: Elmer Pond (who had worked for Shaw) began producing two wheel tractors in his garage with surplus parts using the Pond Name. (“The company's name was changed to Wheel Horse, Due to a naming conflict with another company”)
1946<: Elmer Pond became very successful with his tractors and built a full line or lawn and garden tractors.
1949: Homelite, began manufacturing chainsaws and expanded to a full line out power equipment.
1949: Huffy began building lawn mowers to diversify their product line. “Huffy manufactured mowers for a variety of brands, including AMC and Turfmaster.”
1949 - 1965: Germany, The Andreas Stihl Manufacturing Co. Produced light Farm Tractors.
1949-1952: Dodge City, Kansas, Mayrath Machinery, founded by Martin Mayrath who built a line of garden tractors.
1949: Elmer Pond, Owner of the pond Tractor Co. renamed his company to the Speedex Tractor Co.1950:
1950:
1950<: The Wagner Bros' entered the agricultural market.
1950: Indiana, The Harry A Lawther Co. was the manufacturer of Custom tractors, who produced tractors under the Montgonery Wards, Lehr Big Boy, and, in Canada, the Rockol and Regal brands.
1950s: Stanley Hiller jr., developed and sold a small yard tractor named the Hiller Yard Hand.
1951: Southern Saw works, purchases the patents to Snappin' Turtle lawn mowers and begin production.
1952: “Seattle, Washington, Gibson was created out of the Gibson corporation. Wilbur Gibson, opened a tractor manufacturing facility in Longmont, Colorado.” Several tractor models were built before the company was sold to Helene Curtis Industries.
1952: The Harry A Lawther Co. was sold and moved to Hustisford, Wisconsin.
1953: Jim Clark creates a prototype tractor, for use at his home, that would later became the Panzer tractor.
1954-1960: College Park, Maryland, The Copar Co. was formed to build the Panzer garden tractors, later moved to Laurel Maryland.
1953: Western American Industries resumed production of the Gibson, in the Gibson factory before closing.
1954: The Harry A Lawther Co. (custom manufacturer) assets were sold to a firm in Mexico.
1955: Swisher develops their first riding mower.
1956: Port Washington, Wisconsin, Bolens was started by Gilson and Bolens.
1957: Pond sold the Speedex Tractor Co to The General Combustion company.
1958: Western American Industries closing the Gibson Factory.
1958: Cleveland, Ohio, MTD, (Modern Tool & Die) began producing lawn equipment.
>1959: Sears is the Distributer of the David Bradley Line of tractors
1959: Sears buys the David Bradley Suburban Line of tractors.1960:
1960:
1960s: Louisville, Georgia, Burns Manufacturing (Founded by Sam Burns, Burns Tool Corp'.) built garden tractors.
1960: Burns was sold to Draper.
"Draper owned Blue Jet and Penfield, and a line of Burns and Penfield Suburban tractors was built.”
1960: Virginia Metal-crafters, buys the Copar Co. who produced the Panzer Tractor
1960<: John Deere and Wagner Entered into a deal, that included a 5 year Non- compete clause.
1960: White Motor Co' acquires Oliver and Cockshutt.
1960" Stanley Hiller jr. Stopped Production of his small yard tractor named the Hiller Yard Hand.
1960-1976: US industrial conglomerate American Machine & Foundry (AMF) starting building lawn and garden tractors.
1961: Havre, Montana, Big Bud Tractors Inc. was born out of the Wagner tractor dealership.
1961: International Harvester entered the small tractor market with the Cub Cadet, which was built at the factory in Louisville along side the larger Farm tractors.
1961: Racine, Wisconsin, Jacobsen tractors, was founded by Knud and Oscar Jacobsen.
1961: White Motor bought the local Cletrac inventories.
1961: Springfield Ohio, Quick Manufacturing began to Produce Springfield Tractors, tillers, and two-wheel tractors.
1962: Minneapolis-Moline entered the lawn and garden tractor business with their Town & Country lawn tractor series.
1962: Colt Manufacturing was started by brothers Warren and Wally Johnson.
1962: Galesburg, KS , Bush Hog Corp' bought out Shaw manufacturing for the purpose of building a heavy duty riding garden tractor.
1962: The first Bush Hog Tractor was produced.
1963: White purchases Minneapolis Moline
1963: Minneapolis-Moline was purchased by White Motors.
1963: AMF purchased Iowa outdoor equipment manufacturer Western Tool.
1963: production was moved from Milwaukee to Winneconne, Wisconsin.
1964: Gilson buys the Burns Tractor and tiller line.
1964<: Minneapolis-Moline sold a full line of lawn tractors, until it was switched to the White brand.1964: Homelite began selling re-branded lawn mowers.
1964: Case purchased Colt and the tractors were sold through Colt distributors under both the Case and Colt brands.
1964: Ford merged the North American and European Fordson lines under the Ford name.
1964: The Gravely Co. moves to Charleston, North Carolina and enters the four-wheel garden tractor market.
"Gravely used a unique rear-engine design on their tractors."
1964: Sears drops The David Bradley name and produces a series of their own tractors with the name Sears Suburban.
1965: Wheel Horse was among the first to introduce tractors with a hydrostatic drive system.
1965: Allis Chalmers, purchases Simplicity.
1966: The Colt name was dropped and Case-branded lawn tractors were sold through Case dealers.
1966: Quick Sold their operations to Toro.
1966: Roper begins building outdoor power equipment.
When the George D Roper Co. Purchased the former David Bradley Manufacturing works from sears. Roper supplied lawn equipment to Sears for the next 30 years.
1969: The White Farm equipment co. was formed.
1969: Owners of the Speedex Tractor Co, The General Combustion company (Owned by Maury Foote and Jerry Stowe), later merged with Mechtron International
1969: The Eagle Tractor Company purchased the company1970:
1970:
1970: Panzer becomes part of Jackson Manufacturing.
1970-1974: General Electric produced the Elec-Trak electric lawn tractors.
1970s: New Holland began manufacturing lawn and garden tractors.
1970's: Decreasing sales, lead Huffy to sell its outdoor power equipment division.
1970: The Minneapolis Moline lawn tractor line was switched to the White and continues the line of tractors as White Town and Country.
1970>: Sears started using the Craftsman and Craftsman Pro name on it lawn mower equipment around this time.
“..AYP (American Yard Products) and MTD (Manufacture Tool & Dye) built Sears lawn equipment over the years. MTD providing the Majority in recent years.”
1971: Jackson Manufacturing, who produced the Panzer Tractor line, Closes as part of a bankruptcy. “...later Dandy sales purchases the remaining parts and patterns…"
1971: John Deere entered the market with their own tractor.
“The Non-compete clause between Wagner and John Deere, Prevented Wagner from entering the market and ended the business.”
1972: Jacobsen built the Oliver branded line of lawn tractors for only one year.
1973: New Holland sold the product line to Ariens.
1974: Wheel was acquired by American Motors Co. (AMC)
1974: Disappointing sales led GE, to sell the Elec-Trak division to Wheel Horse.
1973: White Motors consolidated it's tractor lines under the White brand.
1975-1983: Wheel Horse continued production of electric tractors.
1975: The IH Farmall line of Tractors is discontinued completely, by started to phase out in the early 1970’s.
"CNH Global has revived the Farmall brand on some of their modern utility tractors."
1975 Yard-Man tractors was sold to MTD. "MTD continues to produce lawn tractors under the Yard-Man name."
1977: Power King , Originally the name for certain EPCO tractors, became the brand for the entire line.
1978: Homelite lawn tractor had the majority of their tractors supplied by Allis-Chalmers (later, Simplicity) until Homelite was merged with Jacobsen.
1978: Jacobsen was acquired by Textron and its residential lawn and garden product line was merged with Homelite.1980:
1980:
1981: International's Lawn Products Group (Cub Cadet) was sold to MTD, as the subsidiary Cub Cadet Corporation (CCC) production moved to a new factory in Brownsville, Tennessee. "MTD still produces Cub Cadet's under the Cub Cadet MTD name” 1981: MTD purchases the White outdoor line of tractors.
1982: Ariens purchased Gravely.
1982: Wheel Horse was spun off from AMC to Munn Investment Group.
1983: Simplicity was sold, by Allis to management.
1984: Allis-Chalmers was purchased by Deutz.
1984: Financial difficulties led to a dissolution of The Allis-Chalmers Company. The farm equipment operations were sold to Klockner-Humboldt-Deutz of Germany.
1985: International Harvester's agricultural operations were merged with the J. I. Case Company. "Equipment is still currently manufactured under the Case IH name."
1985: The New Holland brand replaced Ford-branded Tractors.
1985: Ford purchased New Holland, creating the Ford-New Holland line.
1985: The company that owned Big Bud was purchased by Messner Brothers.
1985: The Ford lawn tractor brand was replaced with New Holland.
1986: Wheel Horse, was purchased by Toro.
1986: Toro Purchases The Wheel Horse Co. and it's entire line of tractors.
1987: Caterpillar re-entered the agricultural market.
1988: Gilson Brothers Co. was acquired by Lawn-Boy.
1989: Allis Chalmers, Tractor production continued under the Deutz-Allis name, until management purchased the company to form AGCO (Allis-gleaner Co.)
1989: Lawn-Boy was acquired by the Toro company, the production of Gilson-branded lawn and snow equipment ceased.
1989: Roper was Purchased by General Electric (GE).
1989: The Roper outdoor unit, was sold to AB Electrolux. “...Roper became part of AYP (American Yard Products) which included the Husqvarna name.”1990:
1990:
1990: Ford's farm equipment group was sold to Fiat.
1990: With the acquisition of Ford-New Holland, FIAT dropped the FIAT and Fiatagri brands.
1990: Power King, was sold to Support Services International and production moved from Waukesha to Beaver Dam.
1990s: Production continued..when Power King was sold again ...to Yazoo-Kees and production ended, "Mission Manufacturing now owns the rights to Power King and supports the tractors.”
1991: AGCO buys White F.E and produces Tractors with the AGCO-White name.
1992: Production slowed and the last Big Bud rolled off the line..1994: Production of Speedex tractors, in the Ravenna, Ohio facility ceased.
1994: John Deere purchased Homelite-Jacobsen, which ended the Homelite brand on lawn tractors.
1998: Bolens was consolidated with Troy-Bilt under Garden Way.
1999: The last USA Made Speedex tractor was made.
2000:
2000: Toro stops production of residential lawn and garden tractors, and focuses on commercial products
2000: Gravely-based designs were discontinued.
2001: Garden Way was purchased by MTD.
2001: Jacobsen/Homelite was sold to a Chinese conglomerate Techtronic (TTI)
2001: MTD discontinued the use of the Bolens name on lawn tractors.
2001: Garden Way ( a consolidation of Bolens and Troy-Bilt) was purchased by MTD.
2001: AGCO discontinues use of the AGCO-White.
2002: Caterpillar sold the line to AGCO, who manufactured the tractors under the AGCO brand and sells through Caterpillar dealers.
2002: Ariens ceases the use of the Gravely name.
2002: Simplicity buys Snapper.
2004: Briggs and Stratton buys Simplicity.
2007: Toro stops building Lawn Tractor with the Wheel Horse name and begins selling re-branded tractors built by MTD.
2009: AGCO began phasing out the AGCO name.
2009: New Holland dropped the lawn and garden tractor line
2009: The MTD Brownsville factory which was used to produce the Cub Cadet was closed. The Cub Cadet is currently integrated into the MTD line of Tractors and is sold under the name Cub Cadet MTD.
2010:
2010: MTD stopped manufacturing White lawn tractors
2010: The Gilson line of concrete mixers was sold to the Cleform company of Missouri.
2011: Marshalltown, Iowa, Marshalltown Co. purchases the Gilson line of concrete mixers and still sells concrete mixers under the Gilson name.
2020:
2030
