During the late 1800’s and very early 1900’s, John
Deere was relatively content to sell other nationally recognized brands like
Mitchell, Fish Bros., Old Hickory, and Moline.
In fact, even before Deere began building their own wagons, their branch
houses in various parts of the country were selling other brands and even
private labeling their own. “Deere &
Weber” was one private label and serves as a good example of how a branch house
could take full advantage of opportunities to sell even more wagons.
While the corporate office helped market
well-known, non-Deere brands, other wagon makers also saw sales potential and
worked to curry the favor of John Deere and the large branch distributors. Among those suitors was an upstart firm by
the name of “Keller.” Located in Joplin,
Missouri, the Keller Manufacturing Company is purported by some sources to have
started in 1908. However, as shown
below, we came across this January 1907 report in The Carriage Monthly
indicating that the firm was already in business at least a year earlier.
“The Keller Mfg. Co.,
Joplin, Mo., who have recently completed a large wagon plant, 100 x 450 feet
have just made their first shipment of wagons to the John Deere Plow Co.,
Omaha, Neb. The plant has a capacity to
turn out 5,000 wagons monthly. At
present, there are 700 wagons in process of manufacture, and orders are on file
for 3,000 more.”
The report doesn’t list how many wagons were sent to
the Deere branch. However, it appears they had little chance to send many more. Unfortunately for Keller, John Deere was
about to finally devote some serious resources to making their own wagons. By the time of the above report, Deere was in
the process purchasing the Fort Smith Wagon Company. Three years later, Deere bought the Moline
Wagon Company and a year after that the Davenport Wagon Company became part of
the business. Wagon sales were strong
and Deere was looking to optimize opportunities by creating its own wagon
brands; ultimately allowing greater control over quality, costs, and profits. By all indications, the company wasted no
more time in getting their name on the side of these vehicles. Near the time of the Ft. Smith acquisition,
the first ‘John Deere’ branded wagons began to be promoted for the legendary
Moline, Illinois firm.
It was a move that, no doubt, negatively affected
the young Keller operation as it did not stay in business in Joplin. The plant was sold within a half dozen years
of its opening to a firm specializing in the manufacture of whiskey
barrels. By 1913, the Joplin facility
had ceased production of Keller wagons.
If not for a few occasional references today, this business, like so
many other early vehicle makers might have disappeared forever. For a brief time, though, they enjoyed the
excitement and benefits of being connected to one of America’s most iconic and
desirable brands.
