Editing East Peoria, Illinois (section)

==== Caterpillar Inc. ====
{{See also|Caterpillar Inc.}}The [[Holt Manufacturing Company]] in [[Stockton, California]], had successfully built crawler-type tractors and in 1909 began looking for manufacturing facilities closer to the vast agricultural markets in the [[Midwestern United States|Midwest]] farm belt. Company President [[Benjamin Holt]] dispatched his nephew, Pliny E. Holt in March 1909 to find another plant. He met [[Murray M. Baker|Murray Baker]], an implement dealer, who knew of a factory already equipped to manufacture farm implements and steam [[traction engine]]s that had belonged to the bankrupt Colean Manufacturing Co. of East Peoria.<ref name="acmoc2">{{cite web |title=Caterpillar History |url=http://www.acmoc.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14&Itemid=35&limit=1&limitstart=2 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719235759/https://www.acmoc.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14&Itemid=35&limit=1&limitstart=2 |archive-date=July 19, 2011 |access-date=February 28, 2010 |df=mdy}}</ref>
[[File:Interior Holt Caterpillar factory East Peoria Illinois 1910.png|left|thumb|The interior of the Holt Caterpillar factory in East Peoria, 1910]]
Pliny inspected the Colean factory and learned Colean had spent at least $450,000 on the relatively new building and machinery. Holt bought the assets on October 25, 1909, for the $50,000 note held by a trust company.<ref name="gordon">{{cite web |last=Gordon |first=Paul |date=February 16, 2010 |title=Cat hits 100-year milestone: Holt Caterpillar started operations in East Peoria in 1910 with 12 employees |url=http://www.allbusiness.com/company-activities-management/company-locations/13937416-1.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100721040841/http://www.allbusiness.com/company-activities-management/company-locations/13937416-1.html |archive-date=July 21, 2010 |access-date=February 28, 2010 |publisher=Journal Star |location=Peoria, Illinois}}</ref><ref name="leffingwell">{{cite book |last=Leffingwell |first=Randy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a_HbnkbSVhoC&q=holt%20model%20120%20tractor&pg=PA60 |title=Classic Farm Tractors: History of the Farm Tractor |publisher=Crestline Imprints |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-7603-0246-0}}</ref> and began operations on February 15, 1910<ref>{{cite news |last=GORDON |first=PAUL |date=February 15, 2010 |title=Cat hits 100-year milestone |newspaper=Journal Star |url=http://www.pjstar.com/business/x1999159909/Cat-hits-100-year-milestone |access-date=May 28, 2011}}</ref> with 12 employees.<ref name="gordon" /> The "Holt Caterpillar Company" was [[Incorporation (business)|incorporated]] in both Illinois and California on January 12, 1910.<ref name="acmoc2" /><ref>{{cite news |date=January 13, 1910 |title=Form Company to Manufacture Engines |page=11 |newspaper=The San Francisco Call |publisher=San Francisco Call Company |location=San Francisco, California |url=http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cdnc/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SFC19100113.2.87.27&cl=search&e=13-01-1910-13-01-1910--en-Logical-20-SFC-1----engines-all--- |access-date=December 7, 2010 |quote=Articles of incorporation of the Holt Caterpillar Company were filed with the county clerk today....a branch company of Holt manufacturing company...}}</ref> East Peoria became Holt Manufacturing Company's eastern manufacturing plant, competing with the nearby [[Avery Co.|Avery Tractor Company]].<ref name="rice">{{cite book |last=Rice |first=James Montgomery |url=https://archive.org/details/peoriacitycountyi02rice |title=Peoria City and County, Illinois: A Record of Settlement, Organization, Progress and Achievement |publisher=S.J. Clarke Publishing Company |year=1912}}</ref> Holt was credited with producing the first practical [[continuous track]]s for use with [[tractor]]s and he registered "Caterpillar" as a trademark in 1911.<ref name="acmoc2" />[[File:Holt Caterpillar factory in East Peoria in March 1910.png|thumb|Holt Caterpillar factory in East Peoria in March 1910]]The Peoria facility proved so profitable that only two years later the Peoria facility employed 625 people and was exporting tractors to [[Argentina]], Canada, and [[Mexico]].<ref name="idch">{{cite book |author=Jay P. Pederson, editor. |url=http://www.enotes.com/company-histories/caterpillar-inc/roots-late-19th-century-endeavors-best-holt |title=International Directory of Company Histories |publisher=[[St. James Press]] |year=2004 |isbn=1-55862-508-9 |volume=63 |location=[[Farmington Hills, Michigan]] |chapter=Caterpillar Inc: Roots in Late 19th-Century Endeavors of Best and Holt}}</ref> In April and May 1925, after a period of financial difficulty, the financially stronger C.&nbsp;L.&nbsp;Best merged with the market leader Holt Caterpillar to form the [[Caterpillar, Inc.|Caterpillar Tractor Co.]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Best Tractor History |url=http://www.tractordata.com/farm-tractors/tractor-brands/best/best-tractors.html |access-date=February 24, 2010}}</ref> Clarence Leo Best assumed the title of CEO, and remained in that role until October 1951.<ref name="ohecat">{{cite web |year=2007 |title=Caterpillar On-Highway Engines: About Us>History>Growth |url=http://www.ohe.cat.com/cda/layout?m=85360&x=7 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070804223846/http://ohe.cat.com/cda/layout?m=85360&x=7 |archive-date=August 4, 2007 |access-date=February 24, 2010 |work=ohe.cat.com |publisher=Caterpillar Inc |quote=The Holt Company manufactured their own gasoline engines at the original "engine division," the Aurora Engine Company,...a subsidiary company set up for that purpose.}}</ref> The new company was headquartered in San Leandro until 1930, when under the terms of the merger it was moved to Peoria.<ref name="gordon" /> The Caterpillar company consolidated its product lines and went on to supply the Allied armies with artillery tractors during World War I, the first use of crawling type tractors for military purposes.

When [[World War I]] broke out, with the problem of [[trench warfare]] and the difficulty of transporting supplies to the front, the pulling power of [[Continuous track|crawling-type]] tractors drew the attention of the military. In British trials, the {{convert|75|hp}} Holt tractor was found to be better suited than its competitors to haul heavy loads over uneven ground. The War Office was suitably impressed and chose it as a gun-tractor.<ref name="historic">{{cite web |title=Holt Caterpillar |url=http://www.historicroadways.co.uk/s-007.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091204121517/http://www.historicroadways.co.uk/s-007.htm |archive-date=December 4, 2009 |access-date=February 27, 2010}}</ref> Holt Caterpillar tractors were also the inspiration for the development of the British tank, which profoundly altered ground warfare tactics.<ref name="laird">{{cite web |last=Pernie |first=Gwenyth Laird |date=March 3, 2009 |title=Benjamin Holt (1849-1920): The Father of the Caterpillar tractor |url=http://www.wastehandling.com/ME2/Audiences/dirmod.asp?sid=&nm=&type=Publishing&mod=Publications%3A%3AArticle&mid=8F3A7027421841978F18BE895F87F791&id=47C5DE563581487B9E4394B939909F9E&tier=4 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120803071138/http://www.wastehandling.com/ME2/Audiences/dirmod.asp?sid=&nm=&type=Publishing&mod=Publications%3A%3AArticle&mid=8F3A7027421841978F18BE895F87F791&id=47C5DE563581487B9E4394B939909F9E&tier=4 |archive-date=August 3, 2012 |df=mdy}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |year=2007 |title=HOLT CAT - Texas Caterpillar Dealer Equipment Sales and Service |url=http://www.holtremix.com/company/history.asp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070419135813/http://www.holtremix.com/company/history.asp |archive-date=April 19, 2007 |url-status=usurped |access-date=February 24, 2010}}</ref>