Cyrus Hall McCormick (1809-1884) was born at the family farm, Walnut Grove, in Rockbridge County, Virginia on February 15, 1809. His father Robert experimented with a design for a mechanical reaper from around the time of Cyrus’ birth. In 1831, he abandoned the idea and turned the work over to his son. Cyrus made several changes to his father’s design and successfully demonstrated his reaper at Steele’s Tavern, not far from the family farm, in July of 1831. McCormick walked behind the reaper, which was drawn by a single horse ridden by a boy. Jo Anderson, a slave, raked the platform clear of cut grain.

After a few additional modifications, Cyrus patented the invention in 1834. During the 1840s, Cyrus and his family manufactured and sold reapers from the blacksmith shop at Walnut Grove. Cyrus also made several trips to the Midwest, demonstrating his reaper and attempting to contract with local manufacturers. By the end of 1846, however, he had sold fewer than 100 machines.

In 1847, he moved to Chicago and formed what eventually became known as the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company. There, McCormick developed innovative marketing and distribution techniques that helped make his company a success. He also benefited from the growth of Chicago as an industrial center and rail hub. By 1858, the company was the largest farm equipment manufacturer in the United States, with assets totaling over one million dollars.

In January 1858, McCormick married Nettie Fowler, and began to spend more time away from Chicago. He also became more active in Presbyterian causes and Democratic politics. In 1859, he formed a partnership with his brothers William and Leander to form C.H. McCormick & Bros. William handled the company’s finances and Leander oversaw manufacturing. In 1871, the company’s factory was completely destroyed in the great Chicago Fire. McCormick built a new factory with increased capacity and began to pursue overseas markets in earnest. By the early 1880s, the company had expanded into markets as far away as Russia and New Zealand. The wire binder was followed in 1881 by a machine which used twine to tie the grain.

Cyrus Hall McCormick died on May 13, 1884. His son, Cyrus Jr., became president of the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company. Throughout the 1880s and 1890s, the company retained its position as the leading agricultural equipment manufacturer. However, it found itself increasingly challenged by competitors in a somewhat depressed market. The company’s chief rival was the Deering Harvester Company. By 1900, McCormick and Deering were nearly equal in sales and worthy competitors.

In 1902, the two companies merged to form the International Harvester Company. Three other rivals joined the merger: the Plano Manufacturing Company, the Milwaukee Harvester Company, and Warder, Bushnell and Glessner. Cyrus McCormick’s sons, Cyrus, Jr. and Harold Fowler McCormick, presided over the new company during its first 40 years.

The workshop-grist mill area of the McCormick farm has been designated a national historical landmark by the National Park Service of the U.S. Department of Interior. The Walnut Grove Farm stayed in the McCormick family until 1954, when 634-acre farm was donated to Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech). Research on livestock forage systems, livestock nutrition, and integrated pest management techniques for fruit orchards is now conducted at the farm. A multi-agency gypsy moth suppression program uses the center as a home base, and other special educational events are held there, including a recent summer geography teacher’s workshop held by the National Geographic Society.

Over 7,000 visitors a year to Walnut Grove can find a restored blacksmith shop, gristmill and museum open to the public and a look at McCormick the man and his invention. Visitors touring this national historic landmark can see a full-sized model of the horse-drawn reaper 22-year-old McCormick invented with the help of his father, Robert. You can also see a dozen scale models of later versions of the reaper and, in the blacksmith shop, the actual bellows that Robert McCormick invented.

To reach the McCormick Farm, take Exit 205 off I-81 at Raphine onto Rt. 606. The farm is approximately one mile east of the interstate. For additional information, visit the site.

Here are some more links that may interest you:

• McCormick-International Harvester Company Collection at the Wisconsin Historical Society.
• Pretty Packages, a story about how Virginia Tech is sharing important pieces of history that came to the university as gifts.
• McCormick Invented Reaper 150 Years Ago – Learn more about the McCormick harvester and twine binder and view excerpts of the patent grant from the U.S. Patent Office to Cyrus Hall McCormick for his reaper, patented June 21, 1834.

Houston was born in Rockbridge County, Virginia on 2 March 1793 in a house that no longer exists. He was one of nine children born to Major Samuel Houston and Elizabeth Paxton. His father was a member of Morgan’s Rifle Brigade during the US Revolutionary War. Receiving only a basic education, he migrated with his family to Maryville, Tennessee in 1807 following the death of his father. His mother then took the family to live on Baker Creek, Tenn. He ran away from home in 1809 and resided for a time with a Cherokee tribe on Hiwasee Island (located at the intersection of the Hiwassee and Tennessee Rivers). He was adopted into the Cherokee Nation and given the name Kalanu or “the Raven”.

In 1812 Houston became a school teacher for six months in Maryville, Tenn. In March 1813 he joined the U.S. Army 7th Regiment of Infantry to fight the British in the War of 1812. By December of that year he had risen from private to third lieutenant. At the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in March 1814 he was wounded by a Creek arrow. His wound was bandaged, and he rejoined the fight. When Jackson called on volunteers to dislodge a group of Red Sticks from their breastworks, Houston volunteered, but during the assault was struck by a bullet in the shoulder and arm. Following his recovery he was assigned as an Indian agent to the Cherokees. He left the army in March 1818.

Following six months of study he opened a legal practice in Lebanon, Tennessee. He was made attorney general of Nashville district in late 1818 and also given a command in the state militia. In 1822 he was elected to the House of Representatives for Tennessee, where he was a staunch supporter of fellow Tennessean and Democrat Andrew Jackson and was widely considered to be Jackson’s political protegé though their treatment of Indians differed greatly.

He was re-elected in 1824. In 1827 he declined to run for re-election to Congress and instead ran for, and won, the office of governor of Tennessee, defeating the former governor Willie Blount. He intended to stand for re-election in 1828 but following an eleven week marriage to eighteen year old Eliza Allen, he abruptly resigned as governor (the actual divorce was not until 1837) and the reasons for their divorce still remain a mystery.

He spent a time among the Cherokee, married a Cherokee widow named Tiana Rogers Gentry, and set up a trading post (Wigwam Neosho near Fort Gibson, Cherokee Nation), apparently drinking heavily the entire time. His alleged drunkenness and abandonment of his office and wife caused a rift with his mentor Andrew Jackson, which would not be healed for several years.

Houston’s cousin, the Rev. Samuel Houston, served on the board of trustees for the struggling Liberty Hall Academy. Rev. Houston joined with the other members of the institution’s board to invite George Washington to endow the school. Washington did so, assuring the school’s future, which allowed it to blossom into the Washington and Lee University.

The Sam Houston birthplace monument, a 38,000 pound piece of Texas pink granite, was dedicated in 1986, replacing a previous market that had deteriorated.