Iowa: The Tractor – John Froelich’s Agricultural Revolution In the fertile fields of Iowa, a farmer named John Froelich revolutionized agriculture in 1890.
Frustrated with dragging his steam-powered thresher through the fields, Froelich conceived the idea of attaching a gas engine to the thresher’s working gear.
To his amazement, the contraption worked remarkably well, marking the birth of the tractor company that would later evolve into John Deere.
Iowa’s contribution to the farming landscape with the invention of the tractor reshaped the agricultural industry, enhancing efficiency and transforming the way farmers cultivated their land
John Froelich, the man credited with building the first gas-powered traction engine in 1892 (later known as a tractor), used to reside on a farm in Froelich, Iowa.
The unincorporated town was named after Henry Froelich, John's father, who seeded a grove of German white pine trees about 150 years ago that still tower over and protect the acreage today.
Froelich owned a grain elevator and mill, well-digging business and grain-threshing operation in the late 1800s.
Froelich knew there was a better way to raise and harvest crops than relying solely on steam and actual horsepower.
The desire to be more productive prompted Froelich to invent a machine that changed the world.
"With John Froelich's invention of the first gasoline-powered tractor that went forward and backward, the mechanization of farming exploded, He created the next generation of farmers that are very productive, which is needed because there are less and less of us growing food today." — Lance Donlon
Farmer and entrepreneur Lance Donlon has an intimate connection to agricultural history.
As Donlon cleaned out a bin of soybeans recently using a grain cart pulled by a John Deere 4955 tractor, a distant relative of John Froelich's traction engine, the significance of the community and the invention hit home.
"This is such a special place," Donlon concluded. The town of Froelich only has a handful of residents but is aptly nicknamed Tractor Town USA.
"Keeping (the town's) history alive is so important ... we don't want to lose it.” —Source: DMPF Progressive Farmer
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