Untitled Document

Moline Plow Company

THE MOLINE PLOW COMPANY

The business which eventually became the Molina Plow Company was started in 1865 by Henry Caudee, B. K. Swan, L. E. Hemenway, J. B. Wyckoff and others. They were successful manufacturers of fanning mills and hay rakes, the factory being in a frame building located upon the present site of the magnificent plant of the Moline Plow Company. Andrew Friberg became connected with the concern at an early date and it was at this time that the manufacture of plows was taken up.

In 1866 Mr. George Stephens bought au interest in the business, adding enough capital to make his holdings equal the other partners. The name of the firm at this period was Candee, Swan & Company. The business proved.. profitable and in 1870 was incorporated as the Moline Plow Company, with au authorized capital of $400.000. of which $300,000 was paid up. Several other local capitalists became interested in the concern, prominent among them being Captain Good and S. W. Wheelock.

Mr. Swan was the first president of the corporation, being succeeded by Mr. Wheelock. After the death of Mr. Wheelock in 1891, Mr. George Stephens was elected to the presidency. His son, Mr. George Arthur Stephens, and his son-in-law, Mr. Frank Gates Allen, now president and vice-president, respectively, were made co-managers and given entire active charge of the affairs of the company. Mr. George Stephens died July 12, 1902, being then in his eighty-third year.

When he became president of the company in 1891, the paid up capital had reached the sum of $800,000. It has since been increased from time to time, until it is now $6,000,000 and is controlled by the family. In 1884 the Flying Dutchman sulky plow was put upon the market. This was a three-wheeled plow, all previous sulky plows having but two, and was a distinct advance in plow construction. The line was also extended to include stalk cutters, tooth and disc harrows, corn and cotton planters, disc plows, potato diggers, sugar beet tools and practically every kind of agricultural implement used, except har vesting machinery. In 1896 the Moline Champion corn planter was placed on the market. It was claimed to be the first successful combined check row and drill planter offered to the farmers. Branch houses are located in the principal cities of all the agricultural states and in addition to the large domestic trade done by the company they have a very extensive export trade. In addition to the plow line manufactured at its factory in Moline,Ill., the company owns and operates the factories of the Mandt Wagon Company, Stoughton, Wis.; the Henney Buggy Company and Freeport Carriage Company, Freeport,Ill., and the Monitor Drill Company, Minneapolis, Minn. The company and its branch houses employ about 200 traveling men in the United States, besides those similarly employed in foreign countries. The combined office force of the company and its branches numbers approximately 300 and about 1.200 men are constantly employed in the shop. The wagon factory employs 500, the buggy factories, combined, about 700, and the drill company about 400.

The present officers are: George Arthur Stephens, president; Frank Gates Allen, vice-president; C. E. Stephens, secretary; C. A. Banister, treasurer.

Photos courtesy of Lilly Setterdahl

Article from Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois

Illinois Ancestors

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