Rock Island Knows Tractors Part 3 -- Rock Island's Heider Tractor

The Heider Tractor

Wait...Rock Island made tractors? Yep. Buford and Tate Plow Company, which started making plows in 1854, became the Buford Plow Works in 1864, then in 1871, B. D. Buford & Co. Flooding and a fire, however, destroyed much of the manufacturing plant. In 1885 it reorganized as the Rock Island Plow Company.
In 1914, it began selling Heider tractors, purchasing the Heider Tractor Company in 1916. Then came a name change in 1928 to the “Rock Island” tractor until 1935 due to collapsing sales in the Great Depression era. J.I. Case bought the tractor company in 1937.
Yes....for a few years, tractors were made and sold in the City of Rock Island!
Today’s videos will give a good look at what these tractors were like.

*’Thank you’ goes out to Diane Oestreich for her online article for the Rock Island Preservation Society.
              *see https://rockislandpreservation.org/postcards-from-home/rock-island-plow-company/