In 1871 the company's factory was completely destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire. William handled the company's finances, and Leander oversaw manufacturing. In 1859 he formed a partnership with his brothers William and Leander to form C.H. He also became more active in Presbyterian causes and Democratic politics. In January 1858 McCormick married Nettie Fowler and began to spend more time away from Chicago. By 1858 the company was the largest farm equipment manufacturer in the United States, with assets totaling more than $1 million dollars.

He also benefited from the growth of Chicago as an industrial center and rail hub. There, McCormick developed innovative marketing and distribution techniques that helped make his company a success. In 1847 he moved to Chicago and formed what eventually became known as the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company. By the end of 1846, however, he had sold fewer than 100 machines. Cyrus also made several trips to the Midwest, demonstrating his reaper and attempting to contract with local manufacturers. After a few additional modifications, he patented the invention in 1834.ĭuring the 1840s Cyrus and his family manufactured and sold reapers out the blacksmith shop at Walnut Grove. Cyrus made several changes to his father's design and successfully demonstrated his reaper at Steele's Tavern, Virginia, in July 1831. In 1831 he abandoned the idea and turned the work over to his son. His father, Robert McCormick, experimented with a design for a mechanical reaper from around the time of Cyrus' birth. He was born at the family farm called Walnut Grove in Rockbridge County, Virginia, on February 15, 1809. McCormick (1809-1884) was an industrialist and inventor of the first commercially successful reaper, a horse-drawn machine to harvest wheat. Cyrus Hall McCormick View the original source document: WHI 8499Ĭyrus H.

Cyrus mccormick reaper invention date