Wanderlust World Wanderlust World In 1905, Kansas became the birthplace of a agricultural revolution when J.D. Anderson of Hesston built the first practical gasoline-powered tractor.
Kansas's vast wheat belts demanded efficient power. Steam engines were heavy, slow, required constant water/coal, and risked boiler explosions. Anderson, a blacksmith and mechanic, saw the potential of the new internal combustion engine for agriculture.
Anderson's "Success" proved gasoline power could work on the farm. Though his company didn't dominate, his demonstration catalyzed the industry. Within a decade, companies like Hart-Parr, International Harvester, and John Deere were mass-producing gas tractors. By 1920, they outnumbered steam engines; by 1930, horses were in retreat.
The Anderson tractor is recognized by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) as a historic landmark of agricultural engineering. Kansas's role in mechanizing world agriculture began in a Hesston blacksmith shop.