ALLIS IN WONDERLAND

Looking at the history of Allis-Chalmers, you find that a man by the name of Edward P Allis started the company way back in 1860. This entrepreneur ran a successful factory in Milwaukee in Wisconsin.

Development

Allis soon decided steam power was the way forward, a move which would prove a good one for many years in which the company employed many people, including his two sons. It wasn’t until the company hit trouble financially in 1912 that Otto Falk came on board and advised the company to consider agricultural machinery.

Starting in 1914. Allis-Chalmers started to produce tractors, and things went well until the early to mid-Twenties. In 1926 Harry Merritt joined the company to help boost Allis-Chalmers fortunes which were waning again. It was also Merritt that is credited with choosing the famous Persian orange colour. After seeing a California poppy, which was a bright orange convinced him Allis tractors should be