Peoria, Ill., is where a lot of agriculture and industrial history happened, and Robert Gilmour LeTourneau – better known as R.G. – has a statue in Glen Oak Park next to the tennis courts.

The statue has the quote at the base that reads from the Book of Matthew, verse 33: “But seek ye first the Kingdom Of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you.” A religious man, R.G.’s other statue can be found on the campus of LeTourneau University in Longview, Texas.

Known as “God’s Businessman,” R.G. had a factory in Peoria, but his story begins in November 1888 when he was born in Richford, Vt. In 1902 Le Tourneau left school and moved to Duluth, Minn., then onto Portland, Ore., where he secured a position as an apprentice ironmonger.

Taking these skills, he later worked in San Francisco at the Moore and Scott Iron Works. Work came to a halt with the San Francisco earthquake and fire. After the fire, work was difficult to find and over the next few years, he worked at a variety of jobs.

At the Yerba Buena Power plant R.G. learned to weld and he worked at other manual jobs that expanded his experience in the manual trades. A 1909 correspondence course taught him about vehicle mechanics. During these years he was acquiring the skills that later in life would allow him to secure nearly 300 patents and become an inventor of an array of earth-moving machinery.

According to his online museum: “These 299 inventions included the bulldozer, scrapers of all sorts, dredgers, portable cranes, rollers, dump wagons, bridge spans, logging equipment, mobile sea platforms for oil exploration, the electric wheel and many others.”

R.G.’s first solitary business venture was as a partner with the Superior Garage in Stockton, Calif. In 1917, he married Evelyn Peterson, daughter of a draying company owner from Minnesota. Together they had three boys and a girl.

During World War II, while he didn’t serve due to an injury on his neck, he did work as maintenance assistant at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard where he trained as an electrical machinist.

Once the war was over, he came home to find that his business had failed, and he set out to repay his loan by working repairing a Holt Manufacturing crawler. By 1920, he opened an engineering workshop and in 1929 incorporated as R.G. LeTourneau, Inc. He became known for both his machinery and the earth-moving projects he helped complete.

It was 1935 that he made his mark in the Midwest and built his plant in Peoria. His machines were so well received that he went on to open several other plants not only in the United States but also in Wales and Australia. Information on his online museum claims he built 70 percent of the heavy earth-moving equipment used by the Allies in World War II.

During the height of the war, from 1942-45, his fertile mind pumped out 78 inventions, many of which were instrumental in helping to win the war.

Taking a different track, in 1953 he sold his line to Westinghouse Air Brake Co. and turned his eye to developing the electric wheel drive concept. In 1958, he began a new career offering contractors high-capacity earth-moving transportation and material handling machines based on his newly developed electric wheel drive system.

He retired at the age of 77, turning the presidency over to his son although he continued to design and work. R.G. was a man of faith and held many positions over the years and opened an array of charitable foundations.

He lived until June 1969 and changed the world of earth-moving forever. His statue came about through the efforts of retired employees who formed the LeTourneau Memorial Assoc. To honor R.G. they raised $25,000 in donations. The 12-foot bronze memorial was designed by Keith Knoblock.

The association raised an additional $5,000 to maintain the monument and presented it to the Peoria Park District for perpetual care. The statue in Glen Oak Park reminds visitors of his impact not only on Peoria, but the world.

Readers with questions or comments for Cindy Ladage may write to her in care of this publication. Learn more of Cindy’s finds and travel in her blog, “Traveling Adventures of a Farm Girl,” at http://travelingadventuresofafarmgirl.com