Massey-Harris Company

The Massey-Harris Company was formed in 1891 by the merger of the Massey Company and the A. Harris Company. Massey-Harris had several marketing relationships with other tractor manufacturers, with the first being in 1916 when they formed an agreement to sell the“ Big Bull”, manufactured by the Bull Tractor Company of Minneapolis. The poor design of this tractor ended its span in 1918 and Massey then entered into an agreement with the Parrett Tractor Company of Canada. This relationship produced the Massey model # 1, # 2 and # 3, but ended when Parrett became financially distressed. 1926 saw Massey enter into an agreement to sell Wallis tractors for J. I. Case Plow Works, and eventually Massey purchased the“ Plow Works Company” in 1928. The well-designed Wallis tractor gave Massey a huge boost and they became a power in the United States tractor industry. Although the Wallis name and product were highly respected, the name was phased out by 1932 and all tractors carried the Massey Harris name. Eventually, Massey-Harris and Ferguson combined in 1953 and became Massey-Harris-Ferguson, LTD., which was eventually shortened to Massey-Ferguson.