Minneapolis-Moline was a large tractor and machinery producer based in Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

. It was the product of a merger between three companies in 1929: Minneapolis Steel & Machinery

Minneapolis Steel & Machinery

The Minneapolis Steel & Machinery Company was located at and around the intersection of East 29th street, Minnehaha Avenue, and Lake Street, near the triangle-shaped Longfellow Field . It was one of the companies that merged into the Minneapolis-Moline tractor company...

 (MSM), Minneapolis Threshing Machine, and Moline Plow. It was headquartered in Hopkins

Hopkins, Minnesota

As of the census of 2000, there were 17,145 people, 8,224 households, and 3,741 families residing in the city. The population density was 4,205.9 people per square mile . There were 8,390 housing units at an average density of 2,058.2 pe square mile...

, MN and had plants on Lake Street at Hiawatha Avenue in Minneapolis, in Hopkins

Hopkins, Minnesota

As of the census of 2000, there were 17,145 people, 8,224 households, and 3,741 families residing in the city. The population density was 4,205.9 people per square mile . There were 8,390 housing units at an average density of 2,058.2 pe square mile...

, and Moline

Moline, Illinois

Moline is a city located in Rock Island County, Illinois, United States, with a population of 45,792 in 2010. Moline is one of the Quad Cities, along with neighboring East Moline and Rock Island in Illinois and the cities of Davenport and Bettendorf in Iowa. The Quad Cities has a population of...

, IL.

Labor

MSM, the largest of the merged companies, was a leader in the anti-labor union, open-shop, movement. It was a member of the Citizen's Alliance (CA), a powerful Minneapolis business league that kept the city largely union free for over 20 years. During World War I, the unions agreed to not strike to aid the war effort, in exchange the National War Labor Board

National War Labor Board

The National War Labor Board was a federal agency created in April 1918 by President Woodrow Wilson. It was composed of twelve representatives from business and labor, and co-chaired by Former President William Howard Taft. Its purpose was to arbitrate disputes between workers and employers in...

 ordered wage hikes for workers. MSM refused, starting a court battle that would not be fully resolved until the 1940s.

Minneapolis-Moline inherited MSM's CA membership and attitude. However, it signed a contract with the AFL

American Federation of Labor

The American Federation of Labor was one of the first federations of labor unions in the United States. It was founded in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions disaffected from the Knights of Labor, a national labor association. Samuel Gompers was elected president of the Federation at its...

 Machinists Union in 1935, during the Flour City Ornamental Iron strike and after the 1934 Teamster's Strikes, both of which were notable for their violence. This was a notable defection that foreshadowed the collapse of the open-shop movement in Minneapolis. However, this did not mean peaceful labor relations in the years to come. After World War II, the company would have to deal with strikes and pension disputes.

1963 acquisition by White

It was acquired by the White Motor Company

White Farm Equipment

White Farm Equipment is a brand of agricultural machinery, now discontinued except for planter, and owned by AGCO.-History:In 1960, the White Motor Company entered the agriculture market with the purchase of the Oliver Farm Equipment Company. In 1962, White acquired the Cockshutt Farm Equipment...

 in 1963 and the brand name was dropped in 1974. AGCO

AGCO

AGCO is an agricultural equipment manufacturer based in Duluth, Georgia, USA. As a leading global manufacturer of agricultural equipment, AGCO offers a full line of tractors, combines, hay tools, sprayers, forage and tillage equipment, which are distributed through more than 2,700 independent...

 purchased White in 1991. The Hopkins headquarters site has been redeveloped, and is now the location for a Honda automobile dealership.

Tractors

Minneapolis-Moline pioneered the concept of the closed-cab farm tractor by developing the UDLX (the model name stood for U Deluxe) Comfortractor for North America in 1938. The UDLX was equipped with automotive features such as an electric starter and a dashboard with a speedometer, plus several firsts in a tractor, including a heater, a cigarette lighter, windshield wipers, and a radio. Despite poor sales due to its high cost (double that of a Farmall

Farmall tractor

Farmall was a model name and later a brand name for tractors manufactured by International Harvester . The Farmall name was usually presented as McCormick-Deering Farmall and later McCormick Farmall in the evolving brand architecture of IH....

 or Deere

Deere & Company

Deere & Company, usually known by its brand name John Deere , is an American corporation based in Moline, Illinois, and the leading manufacturer of agricultural machinery in the world. In 2010, it was listed as 107th in the Fortune 500 ranking...

), UDLX was part of one of Minneapolis-Moline's most popular series. The U series saw a number of variants, including the UTU, UTS, UTL, UDU, UDU, UOPL, UB, UTIL, and UT.

The M series was introduced in 1960 with the M-5, followed by the M-504 in 1962, the M-602 and M-604 (4WD) in 1963, and finally the M-670 in 1964. The M series ended production in 1970.

The six-cylinder G series comprises the largest and most powerful Minneapolis-Moline tractors. Production started in 1959 with the G-VI, followed by the G-704 in 1962. Models that followed were the G-705, G-706, G-707, G-708, G-1000, G-900, G-1000 Vista, G-950, G-1050 and the G-1350. The G-1355 was introduced 1972 and was the most powerful Minneapolis-Moline tractor ever built with 142 PTO HP. The G-955 was manufactured between 1973 and 1974 and was the last tractor manufactured under the Minneapolis-Moline name, as White ceased using the brand name in 1974.

In the early 1970s, White also sold four Oliver models rebranded as Minneapolis-Moline: the Oliver 1555 was sold as the G-550, the Oliver 1655 was sold as the G-750, the Oliver 1755 was sold as the G-850 and the Oliver 1855 was sold as the G-940. These tractors had 53, 70, 86, and 92 PTO horsepower, respectively.

In 1971, White sold two diesel imports made by Fiat

Fiat

FIAT, an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino , is an Italian automobile manufacturer, engine manufacturer, financial, and industrial group based in Turin in the Italian region of Piedmont. Fiat was founded in 1899 by a group of investors including Giovanni Agnelli...

 as Minneapolis-Moline: the MM G-350 (41 PTO horsepower, 3-cylinder) and the MM G-450 (54 PTO horsepower, 4-cylinder). The G-350 was also sold as the Oliver 1265 and the Cockshutt

Cockshutt

Cockshutt may refer to:* Cockshutt, Shropshire, a village and civil parish* Cockshutt, part of Highley also in Shropshire* Ignatius Cockshutt, Canadian businessman and father of …* James G...

1265; the G-450 was sold as the Oliver 1365 and the Cockshutt 1365.