Arthurdale's settlers were required to farm

As a community, Arthurdale cooperatively raised crops like buckwheat, potatoes and squash, and operated a dairy barn and poultry farm, according to Elizabeth Satterfield, curator and director of Education at Arthurdale Heritage, Inc.

She said to complement subsistence agriculture, Arthurdale men were expected to have part-time jobs in nearby factories to supplement their family income.

Originally, the federal government planned to have a post office box factory in Arthurdale, but this plan never materialized. Instead, numerous factories came and went in Arthurdale. First was an electric vacuum cleaner factory, followed by the Phillip-Jones Shirt Company, both of which struggled to make a profit.

Satterfield said in August 1938, the Arthurdale Association (AA) — the cooperative organization made up of homesteaders — entered into an agreement with American Cooperatives, Inc. (a multistate organization of six Midwest farming cooperatives) to relocate a tractor plant from Michigan to Arthurdale.

AA agreed to provide the building, equipment, machinery and operating capital.

The Co-Op farm tractor was made at that time in three different models or sizes. The Co-Op Number 1 Model was a four-cylinder engine tractor. The Number 2 and Number 3 Co-Op Models were six-cylinder engine tractors of different sizes.

“While I’ve been unable to confirm it (and could stand be corrected), it appears that perhaps in the original discussions, the Arthurdale factory was to have built all three models of the Co-Op tractor. At some point later, the Arthurdale factory evolved into only the manufacture of the six-cylinder engine models, and still later, the factory made only the larger tractor, the Co-Op Number 3,” according to Gas Engine Magazine at https://www.gasenginemagazine.com/community/farm-shows/the-arthurdale/

“The manufacture of the Co-Op Number 1 and Number 2 model tractors were each done at other factory locations in other states, apparently through similar arrangements that created the Arthurdale Farm Equipment Corporation operation,” according to the magazine.

First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt visited the tractor factory in May 1939.

The plans included assembling 1,200 tractors annually, but the factory never reached this goal. It lost money each month and ultimately the agreement was canceled in April 1940 after a $100,000 loss.

According to oldirongarage.com, the Co-Op tractors were originally built by Duplex Machinery Company, Battle Creek, Michigan.

After Duplex operated for a year or so, the company name was changed to Co-operative Machinery Company, but the 1940 tractor directories list the Arthurdale people as the manufacturer. Shortly after that, World War II started, and that about ended the Co-Op tractor.

When the federal government ended its affiliation with the Arthurdale community in 1947, private interests purchased the factories. J.W. Ruby ultimately operated Sterling Faucet in the factories and Sterling Farms on much of the farmland in the Arthurdale area.

Today, Arthurdale Heritage, Inc. owns two American Cooperative Tractors as part of its museum collection. In 2003, the local Tire Kickers Car Club purchased a Co-op No.3 Tractor and brought it back to Arthurdale from the Midwest. The group fully restored the tractor, and it is still used by Arthurdale Heritage for hayrides and parades.