John Froelich, the American entrepreneur, played a crucial role in feeding the world by inventing the gas-powered tractor.

A small-town American farmboy gave the fight against food insecurity real traction.

His name was John Froelich.

He helped feed the world in ways that even celebrities like Bob Geldof, Boy George, and others involved in the holiday hit "Do They Know It's Christmas?" could only dream of.

All it took was American ingenuity, elbow grease — and fossil fuels.

The tractor, invented by Froelich, son of German immigrants, runs on gas.

Denise Schutte, executive director of the Froelich Foundation & Museum in Iowa, described the man they honored as "quite an amazing man" to Planet Chronicle Digital.

"He possessed a highly imaginative and innovative mindset, with the goal of improving everyone's lives."

The introduction of his gasoline traction engine led to remarkable enhancements in agricultural productivity.

"He had a very creative and inventive sort of mind. He just wanted to make life better for everybody."

The tractor that Froelich developed in his Iowa grain mill quickly became widely used and made planting and harvesting crops much easier.

As a result of the development of machinery, farmers no longer needed to allocate land for feeding muscular animals that pulled their plows. This led to a significant increase in food production, which in turn lowered prices and made it more accessible.

Small farmers would eventually be harmed by overproduction, but increased efficiency and abundance helped overcome the threat of starvation.

In a scholarly study of tractors, UC-Davis scholars Alan L. Olmstead and Paul W. Rhode stated that the farm tractor was undoubtedly one of the most revolutionary technological innovations in the history of modern agriculture.

The machine was responsible for increasing the supply of farm power, raising productivity, and reshaping the rural landscape.

‘Always thinking of better ways’

Near the village of Giard in Clayton County, Iowa, John Froelich was born on November 24, 1849.

Henry Froelich, his father, migrated from the German state of Hesse just four years ago. Kathryn (Gutheil), his mother, could have been born in Germany as well.

The youngest child was born two years after their mother's death, and John Froelich was the oldest of their nine children.

Through hard work and the faith of their "kind, devout" Methodist father, the family persevered, as noted by Schutte.

She said that John was likely hardworking, determined, and quiet.

Froelich, Iowa, an unincorporated village, still appears on maps today.

Schutte stated that Froelich did not have any advanced education beyond what he learned at home and in the village school on farms. However, he may have received some form of trade school or mechanical training.

She added, "His brain was always thinking of ways to improve."

The little hamlet of the Froelich family, with a population of approximately 50 people, was transformed into a train hub due to its strategic location in the early days of railroad. This fortunate geographical position played a crucial role in shaping both local and international history.

The railroads named the whistle stop after the Froelich family, who lived closest to the new train station, according to Schutte. Froelich, Iowa, an unincorporated village, remains on maps to this day.

The train stop in Froelich served as a central point for local farmers to transport their grain, and the village's residents, including Froelich, would head to the fields during the summer and fall harvest seasons.

"Every year at harvest time, he dragged a crew of hired hands and a heavy steam-powered thresher through Iowa and the Dakotas."

He was a business owner who ran Froelich Elevator & Mill, a grain mill with a steam-powered thresher, near the train station due to his passion for machines and mechanics.

The entrepreneur, of German-American origin, worked tirelessly at the grain mill to develop a groundbreaking innovation that ushered in a new era in global agriculture.

‘Detractors were silenced’

Grains, such as wheat, barley, and corn, form the basis of civilization. The realization that grains could be cultivated led nomadic, hunter-gatherer humans to settle near the crops they relied on for sustenance.

Agriculture gave rise to the growth of villages, which eventually developed into towns and cities. As a result, trade, banking, business, and art flourished, leading to the development of civilization as we know it, all centered around grain.

For centuries, grain was cultivated using fundamental tools such as the hoe, scythe, grain cradle, and flail, with the help of draft animals like oxen, mules, and horses.

During the Industrial Revolution, the first significant disruption occurred with the introduction of steam-powered harvesters. Froelich, being mechanically skilled, was eager to take advantage of this new technology.

According to History.com, he would pull a team of hired hands and a heavy steam-powered thresher through Iowa and the Dakotas during harvest time, threshing farmers' crops for payment.

The machine was difficult to control and posed risks due to its steam power. The boiler was powered by a variety of fuels, including coal, wood, and anything else that could be burned, as stated by Schutte.

The summer wheat field posed a danger due to the fire required to power the steam engine.

History.com notes that a single spark from a boiler on a windy day could ignite the entire prairie.

According to Schutte, John Froelich came up with the solution of using a gasoline-powered tractor to solve these issues.

William Mann, a longtime employee, constructed a single-cylinder, 16-horsepower Van Duzen gasoline engine on a wood laminate frame and, using steam-engine shafting, gears, and pulleys, built it by hand in an Iowa grain mill, marking the future of agriculture.

The first gas-powered tractor capable of driving in both directions was actually one of the earliest gas-powered vehicles.

"Froelich, his team and his gas-powered machine threshed 72,000 bushels in just 53 days."

Like numerous visionaries before him, Froelich was met with laughter from those who failed to understand his ideas.

The farm-state icon's gasoline-powered tractor was used in his threshing operation during the harvest season, and his detractors were silenced by the successful outcome, according to the University of Iowa's biography.

During the 1892 wheat harvest in Langford, South Dakota, Froelich demonstrated that they were incorrect.

According to Living History Farms in Urbandale, Iowa, a man with a flail could thresh approximately 7 bushels (420 pounds) of wheat per day.

In just 53 days, Froelich and his team harvested 72,000 bushels using their gas-powered machine, resulting in a daily yield of approximately 1,400 bushels.

In 1893, Froelich established the Waterloo Traction Engine Co. in Waterloo, Iowa, due to its success.

Although he departed from the company after just two years, he sowed the groundwork for an abundant crop of agricultural innovation.

Fueled by gas and diesel instead of steam, mechanized farming expanded rapidly.

In 1906, Hart-Parr Co. advertised its farm-equipment products by combining the words "traction" and "motor," which eventually became the name of Froelich's gasoline traction engine.

Not everyone immediately embraced the tractor business, despite its initial popularity.

Schutte said, "Maybe this is the way to go, but maybe not," as he considered the tractor of a doubtful Illinois farm-equipment company.

"The company was renowned for its excellent plows and various horse-drawn farm implements."

In 1918, John Deere's company purchased Waterloo Gasoline Engine Co., founded by Froelich, for $2.1 million.

‘He really did feed the world’

John Froelich passed away on May 24, 1933, at the age of 83 in St. Paul, Minnesota.

The individual, after leaving his equipment company in the 1890s, initially relocated to Dubuque before settling in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he worked as a financial adviser, according to the University of Iowa.

"Despite his passion for invention, he made little future contribution to agricultural machinery innovations."

The gasoline traction engine, born in an Iowa grain mill, represents the nation's work ethic and agricultural productivity through its remarkable contributions to agriculture and food production.

To illustrate, American farmers use tractors to harvest a third of the global corn crop, which serves as both human and animal feed as well as having numerous industrial applications.

Tractors play a central role in American pop culture and politics, too.

In 1999, country singer Kenny Chesney sang about his tractor being sexy in his hit song "She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy," while in 2009, Jason Aldean reached the top of the country charts with "My Big Green Tractor."

Ronald Reagan, during his time as governor of California in the 1960s, incorporated tractors into his image as an everyman, frequently featuring them in photo ops.

In 1982, the Werries family's Illinois farm was famously crossed by him on a tractor, in celebration of the lifting of the grain embargo on the Soviet Union imposed by the Carter administration.

The Froelich Tractor Museum in the Iowa village named after his family preserves Froelich's legacy.

The community was once a bustling hub with a depot, sawmill, blacksmith shop, creamery, post office, hatchery, stockyards, ice house, barber shop, shipping warehouse, and church, as the museum's website states.

The Froelich Tractor Museum opens for the 2024 season on May 11.

Visitors from all over the world, including Australia, are drawn to it due to its curiosity and gratitude.

Schutte said that expressing the influence of Froelich's tractor is difficult.

"In our little corner of Iowa, Froelich constructed a device that simplified life and increased food availability globally."

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