International Harvester Company
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| Industry | Agricultural, Automotive |
|---|---|
| Fate | renamed as Navistar International Corporation |
| Predecessor | McCormick Harvesting Machine Company Deering Harvester Company Warder, Bushnell, and Glessner etc. |
| Successor | Navistar International |
| Founded | 1901 |
| Founder | Cyrus Hall McCormick |
| Headquarters | Lisle, Illinois |
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Area served
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Worldwide |
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Key people
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Cyrus Hall McCormick, J.P. Morgan |
| Products | Farm Machinery, Vocational Trucks, Household Appliances, Passenger Vehicles, Construction and Industrial Equipment |
The International Harvester Company (abbreviated first IHC and later IH) (now known as Navistar International Corporation) was a United States manufacturer of agricultural machinery, construction equipment, trucks, and household and commercial products. In 1902, J.P. Morgan merged the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company and Deering Harvester Company, along with three smaller agricultural equipment firms, to form International Harvester. In 1985, International Harvester sold off most of its agricultural division to Tenneco, Inc., which merged it into its subsidiary J.I. Case under the Case IH brand. Following the terms of IH's agreement with Tenneco, International Harvester renamed itself Navistar International Corporation in 1986.
The roots of International Harvester run to the 1830s, when Cyrus Hall McCormick, an inventor from Virginia, finalized his version of a horse-drawn reaper, which he field-demonstrated throughout 1831, and for which he received a patent in 1834. Together with his brother Leander J. McCormick (1819–1900), McCormick moved to Chicago in 1847 and started the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company. The McCormick reaper sold well, partially as a result of savvy and innovative business practices. Their products came onto the market just as the development of railroads offered wide distribution to distant market areas. He developed marketing and sales techniques, developing a vast network of trained salesmen able to demonstrate operation of the machines in the field.
McCormick died in 1885, with his company passing to his son, Cyrus McCormick, Jr., whose antipathy and incompetence toward organized labor sparked the Haymarket affair, the origin of May Day as a labor holiday. In 1902, the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company and Deering Harvester Company, along with three smaller agricultural equipment firms (Milwaukee Harvesting Machine Co., Plano Manufacturing Co., and Warder, Bushnell, and Glessner—manufacturers of Champion brand) merged to create the International Harvester Company. Banker J.P. Morgan provided the financing. In 1919, the Parlin and Orendorff factory in Canton, Illinois, was a leader in the plow manufacturing industry. International Harvester purchased the factory, calling it the Canton Works; it continued production for many decades.
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