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Church becomes tractor maker to employ devout
 
Wrenching Tales by Cindy Ladage 
 
The tractors were set up as part of the Vintage Garden Tractor Club of America (VGTCA) show.
The George Garden Tool Division of Community Industries has a fascinating past that began in 1936 with the creation of Community Industries. George Garden Tool Division was under the umbrella of the corporation Community Industries, Ltd. and was started by the leadership and members the Church of Jesus Christ in Sullivan. They were conscientious objectors and had a difficult time finding work during World War II.
To make a living, leadership and members of the church founded Community Industries, including the George Garden Tool Division, which began making the first Du-It tractor. (Gary had one of the original George Du-Its at the Salem show).
The Church of Jesus Christ was founded in the late 1880s by the Reverend S.R. (Samuel Rufus) Harshman, who organized the church. Following Harshman’s death in 1911, his daughter, Leah, took over as minister. This year the church is more than 100 years old and is ministered by a nephew of Leah Harshman, Felix Hagerman, and Associate Pastor Vanessa Patient.
The George Division of Community Industries used the phrase “Let George Do It.” The company started out designing and manufacturing a two-wheel garden tractor, then progressed to a one-wheel model.
“Then the tractors became more sophisticated. They designed and manufactured new models with 14 different attachments,” Gary said. “They went to snowblades, snow blowers, cultivators and plows, et cetera.” George also built a sickle-bar mower and a rotary mower, he added. The walk-behind mowers became popular.
Gary and another avid George collector, Joe Franklin from Dixon, own every George product manufactured except for two – and the hunt is still on for those tractors.
Besides the tractor division, Community Industries founded two others. While the men made the tractors, other employees (mostly women) made candy under the Lucy Ellen Candy Division name and dresses under the Felicity Fashions Division.
The tractor division continued to thrive. An ad in Popular Mechanics in April 1951 advertised a George Tractor for $107.50: “All equipment for little cost.”
 Gary said, “In the 1960s the George Garden Tool Division designed and manufactured excellent garden tillers (called the Earth Bird) and snow blowers (called the Snow Bird).”
While the division offered a variety of products, the Snow Bird snow blower, Ralph said, “was big business. In one year, about 1963, they shipped about 45,000 Snow Bird snow blowers.”
Gary has one of the popular Snow Birds built in 1963. He is the second owner of the machine, still in original condition. “I am the maintenance man at the Cowden-Herrick Elementary School in Herrick, Illinois,” he explained, “and when the snow gets deep I fire up the Snow Bird.  It is capable of throwing snow 30 feet straight up or to either side because of the unique and variable center fan and chute placement.
“This machine required little upkeep; only ever had regular maintenance and a coat of wax.”
While the George company was riding high on sales from the Snow Bird, it put large amounts of capital and profits into the development of a large riding tractor, the Work Bird. Unfortunately, sales stalled on the Snow Bird when it didn’t snow for three years.
“In the meantime, they were expending a lot of funds to further develop the Work Bird,” Gary said. “It was way ahead of its time and would be popular today if they were still being manufactured.”
While it is a great tractor, the cost of development of the Work Bird, along with the temporary but drastic drop in sales of the Snow Bird, caused the company to go under in April 1966. After the financial blow, the George Division was sold to Yard-Man of Jackson, Mich. It purchased George from Community Industries, and it was eventually sold to Montgomery Ward in 1971 – and then in 1975, to MTD Products.
“MTD closed the factory in 1975 or so,” Gary said, adding members of the church then stepped in and bought the buildings and manufacturing equipment back, establishing Agri-Fab.
Agri-Fab’s website states: “In 1975, when an absentee employer closed the doors of a lawn and garden business that had been an institution in Sullivan, Ill., many individuals pooled their resources to build a new company. In doing so, they continued not only a community tradition, but also a family one.
“What began as a way to keep church members employed ended up, after many twists and turns, in a much larger business that, at peak season, employs nearly 400 employees in a town of 4,700.”
The vision of the church, first stated so many years ago, has been fulfilled and hundreds of people have found employment and careers in work started so long ago. If Gary and Joe Franklin have their way, the George Tractor story will not be forgotten.

Readers with questions or comments for Cindy Ladage may write to her in care of this publication.
12/17/2014