A Quick History of the Tractor

While it might feel like the tractor has been around for as long as we’ve had farms, tractors are a very recent addition to the world of agriculture. In fact, they’re less than 200 years old! Keep reading to learn more about how tractors were developed from simple machines into the elaborate time-savers we know and love today.

Steam-Powered Plows

Plows have been around for thousands of years, but they were either human-powered or horse-powered. When steam engines were invented in the middle of the 1800s, attempts were made to install them onto a plow, but these machines were inefficient and had a tendency to blow up randomly, which didn’t make them very popular.

Gasoline Traction Engines

After the gasoline-fueled engine was invented in the 1880s, an Iowa farmer named John Froelich employed such an engine on a plowing machine that could go in forward and reverse. He used the machine to successfully harvest wheat.

Around the same time, two Wisconsin engineering students named Charles Hart and Charles Parr created their own similar machine and they decided to condense “traction engine” into the word “tractor.” The first commercial tractor rolled off their Hart-Parr Gasoline Engine Company assembly lines in 1901.

Increased Manufacturing

During the 20th century, a number of different manufacturers entered the tractor industry, including John Deere and Mahindra. Tractors were used for more and more tasks, as new implements and attachments were developed to make them suitable for a wide range of work.

Want to buy a tractor in Tennessee? When you’re ready to check out an amazing selection of new and used tractors and other farm equipment for sale, visit our dealership in Jonesborough. We can even assist you with financing your purchase if you would like. West Hills Tractor serves our customers in Johnson City and Greeneville, TN.