Rockville Garage Dealer of Bates Steel Mules

Montgomery County Sentinel, June 20, 1919

To survive the early days in the automobile business, most dealerships sold several makes of cars. During the early years, Reed Brothers represented several franchise nameplates along with Dodge, including Oldsmobile, Hudson, and Essex. The Hudson and Oldsmobile were sold at Reed Brothers from roughly 1916 through 1923. In addition to automobiles, the Rockville Garage also sold Bates Steel Mules, “the most efficient tractor in America.”

The Bates Steel Mule Tractor, sold in 1919 by Lewis Reed’s Rockville Garage, was designed at the dawn of the steel-wheeled tractor era to pull any horse-drawn implement the farmer owned. I had never even heard of such a thing until I came across this advertisement from the Montgomery County Sentinel.

So, I did some digging online and found the Steel Mule was a product of the Joliet Oil Tractor Company of Joliet, Illinois. First produced about 1913 the Bates Steel Mule was an odd looking tractor with two wheels set wide in front but only a single, low, crawler track centered under the rear. It was promoted as a powerful replacement for a team of horses when used to draw conventional horse-drawn farm machinery. Joliet was one of dozens of small companies vying for a spot in the lucrative small tractor market between 1910 and 1920. Its first tractor debuted in 1913. One of its key selling features was that a farmer could use it to pull his horse-drawn equipment. The Bates Steel Mule originally sold for $1,500, the equivalent of more than $27,000 today.

Montgomery County Sentinel, April 18, 1919

World War I, and the food shortage that came along with it, was a defining moment in history and a direct cause of the rise of the lightweight tractor. — Rick Mannen, editor, Antique Power.

Today’s tractors have come a long way in the past 100 years. Current models are equipped with revolutionary technology, including self-driving models, GPS, luxury cabs, Dolby sound systems, and increased horsepower and versatility.