Muscatine

Nedl, where'd you get the picture of Lilsmom?  Tom.

1811, November 8th - David Bradley was born in Groton, New York.

1832 - David Bradley begins work for his older brother, C. C. Bradley, in Syracuse NY.

1835 - David Bradley moves to Chicago

1854 - Bradley enters into a partnership with Conrad Furst. The result is Furst and Bradley, agricultural implement manufacturers.

1884 - Bradley and his son, J. Harley, purchase Furst's intrests. The new company is the David Bradley Manufacturing Company.

1895 - Bradley moves the company from Chicago to an abandoned furniture factory near Kankakee, Ill.

1899, February 19th - David Bradley dies.

1906 - The company enters "friendly" receivership.

1910 - Sears, Roebuck, and Co. purchases the David Bradley Manufacturing Co.

1912 - Sears adds a large warehouse to the existing Bradley factory.

1919 - J Harley Bradley dies.

1931 - First walking tractor the ‘Handiman'

1938 - Graham-Bradley farm tractor introduced

1939 - Handiman RT (Riding Tractor) introduced

1940 - Bradley is the first of Sears factories to be converted to defense. During W.W.II Bradley made submarine net floats, parts for army tank engines, and most notably, 4.2 inch mortar shells.

1943 - Bradley wins the Army-Navy ‘E' award for production excellence.

1946 - The David Bradley garden tractor introduced to replace pre-war Handiman line.

1951 - ‘Super-Power' walk behind tractor introduced to better compete with the more powerful offerings of other manufacturers.

1953 - After 121 years, farm implements are no longer manufactured by Bradley (although Sears continues to sell implements with the Bradley name).

1954 - Tri-Trac introduced

1955 - Super 3 and Big 5 walk-behind tractors introduced. The Big 5 has no hood.

1956 - New transmission design adds a true differnetial to the walking tractor.

1958 - First use of the Gold and Blue color scheme.

1959 - Suburban rider introduced.

1962 - Bradley becomes part of The Newark Ohio Company, also owned by Sears.

1966 - The George D. Roper Corp. purchased The Newark Ohio Company, ending Sears ownership of Bradley.

1968 - The two wheel garden tractor is no longer offered.

1983, Summer - As a result of Labor disputes, Roper operations in Bradley IL. end.

1984, January 1 - Ownership of the Bradley-Roper plant is transferred to the Village of Bradley to become an industrial incubator.

1986 - Major fire destroys six buildings and much of the old plant.

Thanks for the info.