History of the Tractor

There’s no harder working piece of equipment on a farm than a tractor. Able to tackle a slew of tasks with power and reliability, they’re every farmer’s best friend. The development of the tractor is a real American story, from the innovative conception of saving time and effort on agricultural operations, to the industrialization and mass production that led to these machines becoming commonplace on American farms. 

At Magnum Power, we believe understanding the development of our machines goes hand in hand with understanding the industry. In that spirit we’ve put together this short introduction to tractor history, including their original development, industry innovations, and some of the specialty tractors that came about over the years. Read on for more information or head into our location in Lawson, Missouri, where we proudly serve all of Clay County. 

Development in the 19th Century

John Froelich is the name to remember when it comes the early tractor innovation. He was an inventor who lived in a small village in Iowa named after his father. He developed the first gas-powered plow in 1892. Before then, there were steam-powered plowing engines, but they were extremely slow, hard to move around obstacles, and had a tendency to explode. Froelich’s invention quite a welcome development, especially for those who disliked the threat of explosions. 

After gasoline engines became more and more common, a variety of traction engines using gas as fuel began to appear. Froelich’s traction machine, a combination of these earlier ideas, was the first farm equipment with forward and reverse gears. Froelich connected his creation to a thresher during harvest in South Dakota and successfully threshed wheat.

Charles Parr and Charles Hart, two students of mechanical engineering at the University of Wisconsin, were elsewhere developing the idea for a new gasoline-powered engine. They founded the Hart-Parr Gasoline Engine Company in Madison, Wisconsin, in 1897, shifting production to Iowa at the turn of the century. They coined the term “tractor” from the original term “traction engine” and produced the first successful American tractor in 1901.

Innovations in the 20th Century

The Waterloo company invested in tractor research in 1911, eventually landing them with kerosene-powered machines that were a big hit early in the century. In 1918, the Illinois-based farm equipment enterprise Deere & Company, then helmed by William Butterworth, bought out the Waterloo Gasoline Engine Company. As the grandson-in-law of company founder John Deere, Butterworth saw the potential of tractors and continued to produce the Waterloo Boy model until 1923, when the first John Deere Model D tractor was introduced.

Other manufacturers played around with developing their own tractors. This eventually led to price drops, making tractors more affordable for farmers who could now increase the productivity of their farms with the time and labor saved. 

Tractors became smaller and lighter, more efficient machines. Henry Ford manufactured a tractor called the Fordson that was in wide international use by the 1920s. This brand was made in England through 1964, although its American counterpart ceased production in 1928.

Other heavy manufacturers around the world began to build and market their own tractors during the mid-20th century, like Lamborghini in Italy and Mahindra in India. Both of these companies manufactured tractors starting in 1948 for domestic and international markets. While there are hundreds of tractor manufacturers around the world, Mahindra is the world’s highest-selling tractor manufacturer by volume as of 2010.

Continual improvements have meant that tractors are lighter, faster, and more efficient machines than their steam-powered ancestors, making them essential for a variety of industries, from farming to logging.

Types of Tractors

Tractors are easy to recognize, most often coming in two general designs: two-wheel and four-wheel drive, with either one or two axles respectively. Early tractors were all two-wheel drive, with four-wheel drive tractors showing up in the 1960s when most manufacturers were switching over to diesel engines instead of gasoline or kerosene. 

Traditional tractor design has an open cab with large back wheels and smaller front wheels centered beneath the engine and operator seat. Modern tractors of sufficient size have enclosed cabs, both for safety and confort.

Tracked tractors were developed to operate in areas with wet soil and were commonplace in the 1930s. You might have heard one of the big manufacturers here, Caterpillar. Their tractors employed levers instead of steering wheels so their tracks could be operated separately. 

We hope getting to know a bit about tractor history has inspired you to take a look at some great new and used farm equipment for yourself. If that’s the case, head down to Magnum Power. We’re located in Lawson, Missouri, in Clay County, near Kearney, Liberty, Gladstone, and Kansas City. Come in today and speak with our team of courteous professionals ready to answer all your tractor questions and help you find what you’re looking for.