McCormick

Cyrus McCormick revolutionized farming. Taking
up his father’s interest in agricultural technology,
he invented the horse-drawn mechanical
reaper in 1831. He was 22. Three years later,
he patented it, but he worked another six years
to improve it before it first went on sale in
1840.

With his reaper, farmers harvested five times more
wheat in a single day than they could with human
labor. By 1859, it was estimated that the
McCormick reaper contributed $55 million annually
to the gross national product.

Because Chicago was the center of transportation for the agricultural
West, McCormick built a factory in 1847 on the north bank of the
Chicago River. After the 1871 fire, the factory was rebuilt near Blue
Island and Western Avenues.

McCormick used his wealth to support a Presbyterian theological
seminary and other institutions, and was active in politics.

McCormick died in 1884; his last words were “Work, work, work.” In
1902, his son, Cyrus, oversaw the merger in which his manufacturing
firm became the International Harvester Company.