Milwaukee Harvester Company

This company’s beginnings date to 1850, when Israel S. Love built approximately 50 “Fountain” reapers. In 1852 the partnership of Love & Otis was formed; the company built self-rake reapers during 1851-52. Other partnerships formed during 1854-57 included Love & Orton and Love & Stone. In 1857 a new firm of Parker & Stone was organized and the company built the “Beloit” reaper to be a strong competitor to McCormick.

In 1876, in association with John Appleby, Charles Parker and Gustavus Stone, the company built the first successful twine binder in the world, the Beloit-Appleby binder. The company changed its name to Parker & Dennett in 1881.

In 1882, this company produced about 1,500 harvesters and binders, and fifty mowers. In 1883, the stockholders of the soon-to-be Milwaukee Harvester Company acquired Parker and Dennett’s firm. Over the nearly two decades after the company changed its name, it continued to grow immensely, developing its lines of binders and mowers. By 1896, the company’s plant took up about 400 x 800 square feet of land, containing several three and four-story buildings. Its foundry was about 80 x 220 sq. ft., its blacksmith shop about 50 x 80 sq. ft. The plant also had a machine shop, pattern room, wood working department, paint shop, setting-up floor, boiler house, stables and three brick warehouses. It employed 500 to 600 workers and about 220 traveling men and agents.

The final name change to Milwaukee Harvester Co. came in 1884.

In 1902, the Milwaukee Harvesting Machine Company along with three other agricultural equipment firms (McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, Deering Harvester Company, Plano Manufacturing Co., and Warder, Bushnell, and Glessner) merged to create the International Harvester Company. Banker J.P. Morgan provided the financing.