MUTUAL WHEEL COMPANY

This company was organized in 1891 and at that early date there were but few large carriage factories located in the states west of Indiana. The founders of the company foresaw that Moline was destined to become a center for the vehicle as well as the implement industries, and that the buyers of vehicles in the western states would demand work that was manufactured near home, and of high grade.

In the beginning the plant was small and about fifty or sixty men were at first employed, but the business has increased steadily from year to year. At the present time over 200 skilled mechanics are employed, and the product of the company is shipped throughout the western states. The high standard of vehicles manufactured by the factories in this vicinity has made it necessary for the company to confine their business principally to high grade wheels. They built up an enviable reputation among western vehicle manufacturers as well as the jobbers of heavy hardware and wagon wood stock. Practically all of the leading heavy hardware jobbers in the West carry a full stock of Mutual wheels.

The material used in the manufacture of the wheels is almost exclusively high grade hickory timber. A large force of timber experts is required to keep the factory supplied, as several million feet of timber is used annually. The company has branches in Paducah, Ky., and Cape Girardeau, Mo., where the material is partly manufactured and shipped to Moline for completion into wheels.The annual output for a number of years has been 75,000 to 100,000 complete sets of wheels.

The first president of the company was D. M. Sechler, founder of the D. M. Sechler Implement and Carriage Company, and Morris Rosenfield, one of the founders of the Moline Wagon Company, was the first vice- president. The present officers of the company are: J. C. Moon, St Louis, Mo., president; T. M. Sechler. vice-president; George McMaster, secretary and treasurer; John A. Condo, assistant secretary and treasurer, and George A. Wood, superintendent, the last four named of Moline. Mr. Sachler, the vice-president of the company. is also president of the D. M. Sechler Implement and Carriage Company, and Messrs. McMaster. Condo and Wood have been with the company most of the time since its organization

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