Collection on Minneapolis Moline Power Implement Company

Collection

Identifier: M/A 0208

Staff Only

Description of Contents

The collection consists of five boxes and four scrapbooks. The first box contains various clippings, advertisements, photographs, reports, and correspondence. A number of papers and correspondence detail the 1929 merger of the company. Boxes two through five contain farm machinery price listsand catalogs, arranged by machine type. The scrapbooks consist of newspaper clippings from newspapers such as the Minneapolis Tribune, Minneapolis Journal, Wall Street Journal, and others. The four scrapbooks cover the following years: 1916-1954, 1929-1932, 1932-1944, and 1943-1954.

Dates

1915 - 2001
Majority of material found within 1915 - 1979

Creator

Minneapolis-Moline Company (Organization)

Access Restrictions

The collection is available for use in Special Collections during the department's open hours.

History

The Minneapolis Moline Power Implement Company started in 1929. A merger between the Moline Plow Co. (est. 1852), Minneapolis Threshing Co. (est. 1887), and the Minneapolis Steel and Threshing Co. (est. 1902) prompted the creation of Minneapolis Moline Power Implement Company. Warren C. Macfarlane, the future president of the company, led the merger negotiations. The company’s factory operations began in south Minneapolis, near Lake Street and Minnehaha Avenue. Minneapolis Moline specialized in the manufacturing of a variety of farm equipment including tractors, combines, threshing machines, tillage tools, shellers, harvesters, manure spreaders, and so on.

Minneapolis Moline played a large role globally. The company led in technological innovation and production for farm equipment on an international scale. The company especially prospered during the 1930s-1940s, and became one of the largest farm equipment manufacturers in the world.

At the outbreak of World War II, Minneapolis Moline also took a major role in the war effort. In 1940, the company created the “Jeep,” which saw significant use by the U.S. Army. During the same year, the company opened a new factory in Hopkins, Minnesota, and manufactured massive amounts of munitions and military equipment to both the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy., which continued through the duration of the war.

Minneapolis Moline continued to do well into the 1950s, especially with the creation of a number of highly popular harvester machines. Despite this success, however, the profitability and demand for mass produced farm equipment began to wane into the l960s. In 1962, the White Motor Company of Lansing, Michigan merged with Minneapolis Moline, and set an agenda of manufacturing trucks instead of farm equipment. Much of the manufacturing capital of the company became obsolete or unneeded with this move, and the White Motor Company failed to find subtenants to fill this void. This brought sudden decline to the company as a whole. In 1972, the Minneapolis plant closed and the following year torn down, ending the Minneapolis Moline legacy.

Extent

7.1 Linear Feet (10 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Processing Information

The collection was processed by Bailey Diers in 2017. There is no Box 1, Folder 1. This folder, which contained outdated information about the collection, was removed by Jenna Himsl in February 2018.

Subjects

Agricultural implements. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Agricultural machinery industry. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Farm equipment Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Minneapolis-Moline Power Implement Company
Tractor industry -- Minnesota -- Minneapolis. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings