Moment in Time (July 28, 2022)

The McIntyre Manufacturing Company, later known as the Columbus Tractor Company, built a large manufacturing facility on Goodale in Grandview, near the Hocking Valley Railroad tracks (shown above). They built and shipped an affordable farm tractor, called the ‘Farmer Boy’. The tractors were built in several variations, including 3- and 4-wheel versions, and were shipped all over the world. A line of tractors is seen in the top photo, ready to move to the railroad siding for shipment.

M.W. McIntyre was a prominent Columbus banker, serving as president of the City National Bank of Columbus right after the turn of the century. As was often the case, bank executives served on boards of local and regional industries, and McIntyre was no different. He was a director and stockholder in several Columbus industrial entities, including the Tippet Manufacturing Company, one of the leading providers of train and machinery parts, including the highly touted and patented Hayden Tank Car Relief Valve.

 In 1914, McIntyre purchased the Tippet company in order to realize his ideas of building a simple and affordable farm tractor. He renamed the company the McIntyre Manufacturing Company and began building the “Farmer Boy” tractor. The tractor originally sold for $150, and was built on an assembly line-based plant fashioned after the approach used in building the Ford Model-T. The resulting tractor was sold and shipped all over the world and throughout the U.S.

An article in the April 1918 Automobile Trade Journal stated “The Farmer Boy model-D tractor has but three wheels, which allows easy and short turning and permits the frame being built high enough for practical cultivating. Fewer parts, a less complicated construction, the use of an easily operated steering apparatus and the need of less attention are advantages claimed for this type of tractor.“  (The company later added a four-wheel version for different farmland and farm activities.) An article in the August 1917 Farm Implements magazine described how McIntyre and his salesmen would convene a group of farmers and dealers in a field. He would start the tractor and head it down a furrow in the field, then jump off and hand out sales circulars while the driverless tractor would slowly continue straight down the field, successfully plowing as it went.

McIntyre obtained a large contract with the Cuban government, and needed to look to build a larger plant to meet the new sales obligations. One of his contacts was developer King Thompson, who owned the Northwest Boulevard Co. and was the founder of Upper Arlington. He pointed McIntyre to a large property with easy railroad access on Goodale Boulevard near his planned Grandview subdivision. McIntyre built a facility on 12 acres on Goodale Blvd. at the Hocking Valley Railroad tracks and moved his plant from the Locust St. location in what is now the Arena District.  

After several successful years in the new Grandview plant, the Mclntyre Manufacturing Company was absorbed by a new organization known as the Columbus Tractor Company, which was incorporated in January of 1918 with a capital stock of $1,000,000. The new company took over the entire business, with McIntyre remaining as sales manager. By June they were shipping twenty tractors per day from the Grandview plant. But as the economy tightened, they fell on hard times and abruptly closed after several years.

References:
1.     Norwester, February 1918
2. Cycle and Automobile Trade Journal, Vol 22, 1918, Chilton Co.
3. Farm Implements, Vol 31, 1917, Farm Implement Publishing Company