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Pictured:
Massey-Harris General Purpose Tractor
was produced from 1930-1936.
The 24.8 H.P.
1200 rpm, 226 cu. in. Hercules engine delivered 19.9 H.P. at the
drawbar. Four wheel
drive through equal size wheels the transmission offered three
forward speeds.
This tractor is owned by Ken Buchheit owner of Buchheit’s
Hardware and Farm Supply stores.
The firm was founded in 1847 in
Newcastle,
Ontario by Daniel Massey as the
Newcastle Foundry and Machine Manufactory. The company began
making some of the world's first mechanical threshers, first by
assembling parts from the United States
and eventually designing and building their own equipment. The
firm was taken over and expanded by Daniel's eldest son Hart
Almerrin Massey who renamed it the Massey Manufacturing Co. and
in 1879 moved the company to Toronto where it soon became one of the city's
leading employers. The massive collections of factories on King St. West
became one of the best known features of the city. Massey
expanded the company and began to sell its products
internationally. Through extensive advertising campaigns he made
it one of the most well known brands in Canada. The firm
owed much of its success to Canadian tariffs that prevented the
larger American firms from competing in Canada.
A labor shortage throughout the country also helped to
make the firm's mechanized equipment very attractive.
In 1891, Massey merged with the A. Harris, Son & Co. Ltd. to
become Massey-Harris Co. and became the largest agricultural
equipment maker in the British Empire. In 1910, the company acquired the Johnson
Harvester Company located in Batavia, New York, making it one of Canada's first multinational firms.
In the 1930s, it introduced the first self-propelled combine
harvester. Massey-Harris also produced one of the world's first
four-wheel drive tractors. Hart Massey's sons, Charles,
Chester, Walter, and Fred became closely
involved in the business and eventually took over its
operations. They were, however, the last generation of Massey’s
to run the company. Other members of the family went on to do
other accomplishments: Vincent Massey became Governor General of
Canada
and Raymond Massey became a noted actor in American films.
In 1953, the company merged with the Ferguson Company to become
Massey-Harris-Ferguson, before finally taking on its current
name in 1958.
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