KEWANEE

Kewanee is a city with the unofficial title “Hog Capital of the World” and deep agricultural roots. A symbol of that connection is Kewanee Machinery and Conveyor: equipment bearing the Kewanee name served Midwest fields for decades.

History Founded in 1912 as Kewanee Corn Hanger by Wallace Glidden and B. F. Baker, vice president of Kewanee Boiler, the company was renamed Kewanee Machinery and Conveyor in 1930. Over the years it produced corn‑hanging equipment, grain elevators, truck and wagon lifts, and wheel‑mounted disk harrows—“the most talked‑about implement in the industry” in the 1950s and beyond.

After Wallace Glidden’s death in 1920, his brother Ray led the company, and in 1951 leadership passed to Ray’s son, Robert, who served until the business was sold in 1972. Manufacturing continued in Kewanee under other names until 1994. Although the Kewanee brand left the assembly line then, the name can still be seen in farm fields across the Midwest today.