In the last few years, there have been a few horse-drawn buggies appear at Oliver shows with a tag identifying them as “Built For The Oliver Chilled Plow Works”. Most people have never heard of Sechler but what follows is story about a very successful company that built several different products for Oliver and eventually sold part of the line to the American Seeding Machine Company which later came back to the hands of Oliver.

Daniel Sechler was born in 1818 in Danville Pennsylvania. At the age of seventeen he began his apprenticeship as a carriage maker. Five years later he became a partner in Ball & Sechler, which produced anywhere from 50-75 carriages a year. His partner, Ball, died and Daniel continued in this business for another 3 years before disposing of it and relocated to Wooster, Ohio. While still living in Pennsylvania, Daniel and his wife had a son, Thomas, which would be their only child.

During the time period of 1852-1869 he managed several steel mills throughout the Midwest. In 1877 he returned to his former trade as a carriage maker and Sechler & Company was formed in Cincinnati, Ohio. This business prospered under Daniel’s leadership for the next ten years.

In 1887 Daniel sold his controlling interest in Sechler & Company with the intentions of retiring at the age of 69. Daniel and his wife did quite a bit of traveling around Europe, but retirement wasn’t quite as relaxing as he thought. Although he was no longer a part of the company, Sechler & Company continued to exist. Their focus later changed to the manufacture of trailers and wagons that could be pulled by a Model T. Today this company still exists and is a familiar name to many of us – Trailmobile.

In 1888, Daniel formed the D.M. Sechler Carriage Co. in Moline, Illinois. Moline was chosen because of its outstanding transportation facilities compared to other cities.

Only one year after being in business, Sechler consolidated with the Beebe Cart Company. All stock, machinery and etc. was moved to Moline and Mr. Beebe became the general manager of Sechler.

In 1891, the Mutual Wheel Company was formed. Daniel Sechler acquired 40 of the 400 available shares and was elected president, a position he held until his death. The majority of the stockholders were carriage and wagon manufacturers, whom all planned to benefit from the company by having a readily available supply of wheels. By 1900, this company employed 5-600 people and built 100,000 sets of wheels annually. Today Mutual Wheel is a family owned business still operating out of their home base of Moline.

At the end of the 1800’s bicycles were becoming quite the fad. With a mind that was never idle, Sechler also ventured into the manufacture of bicycles as a sideline.

Turn to your Oliver Heritage Issue # 7 for more on Oliver & Sechler and other exciting stories and facts on Oliver & other farming equipment!