Simplicity Manufacturing Company is an American company based in

Port Washington, Wisconsin Port Washington is the county seat of Ozaukee County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on Lake Michigan's western shore east of Interstate 43, the community is a suburb in the Milwaukee metropolitan area 27 miles north of the City of Mil ...

that builds lawn and garden equipment under various brands. The company was founded by William J. Niederkorn in 1922, and started building walk-behind two-wheeled tractors in 1939. Between 1941 and 1945, due to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Simplicity Manufacturing temporarily halted production of lawn and garden products, and manufactured electric fence controllers and external surface grinders to satisfy the

War Production Board The War Production Board (WPB) was an agency of the United States government that supervised war production during World War II. President Franklin D. Roosevelt established it in January 1942, with Executive Order 9024. The WPB replaced the Sup ...

. Simplicity built is first riding tractor in 1957 which was the model Wonderboy. The company rapidly expanded it's product line in the sixties to meet the demands of the population shift to American suburbs.

Allis-Chalmers Allis-Chalmers was a U.S. manufacturer of machinery for various industries. Its business lines included agricultural equipment, construction equipment, power generation and power transmission equipment, and machinery for use in industrial setti ...

purchased the company in 1965, and Simplicity's management bought it back in 1983. Simplicity Manufacturing celebrated its 75th anniversary in 1997 with a special 75th anniversary tractor model. The tractor featured a special blue paint scheme with chrome Harley-Davidson lights and muffler. Sometime after

AGCO Corporation AGCO Corporation is an American agricultural machinery manufacturer founded in 1990 and with its headquarters in Duluth, Georgia, United States. AGCO designs, produces and sells tractors, combines, foragers, hay tools, self-propelled sprayers, ...

purchased

Deutz-Allis Deutz-Allis was formed when Deutz-Fahr of Germany, part of KHD, purchased the agricultural assets of the Allis-Chalmers corporation in 1985. Deutz-Allis was eventually sold to the Allis-Gleaner Corporation, or AGCO), in 1990. Deutz-Allis tractors ...

from

Deutz-Fahr Deutz-Fahr () is a German agricultural machinery manufacturer. It was established in 1968 after the acquisition of the majority of share capital in FAHR, a leading company already producing agricultural equipment in the previous century, b ...

and KHD, Simplicity took over building and selling the Deutz-Allis lawn equipment. The name was later changed to Agco-Allis, and then to AGCO to reflect the changes within the AGCO Corporation. After AGCO purchased

Massey Ferguson Massey Ferguson Limited is an American agricultural machinery manufacturer. The company was established in 1953 through the merger of farm equipment makers Massey-Harris of Canada and the Ferguson Company of the United Kingdom. It was based in T ...

, Simplicity began building and selling the Massey Ferguson lawn equipment. Simplicity bought the Snapper company in 2002. Snapper had built Massey Ferguson lawn tractors many years before. Over the years, Simplicity has also built lawn and garden tractors for

J.C. Penney Penney OpCo LLC, doing business as JCPenney and often abbreviated JCP, is a midscale American department store chain operating 667 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. Departments inside JCPenney stores include Mens, Womens, Boys, Girl ...

Montgomery Ward Montgomery Ward is the name of two successive U.S. retail corporations. The original Montgomery Ward & Co. was a world-pioneering mail-order business and later also a leading department store chain that operated between 1872 and 2001. The curren ...

, Viking (part of

Stihl Stihl (, ) is a German manufacturer of chainsaws and other handheld power equipment including trimmers and blowers. Their headquarters are in Waiblingen, Baden-Württemberg, near Stuttgart, Germany. Stihl was founded in 1926 by Andreas Stihl, an ...

Homelite Corporation Homelite Corporation is an American power equipment manufacturer, i.e. (chainsaws, leaf blowers, trimmers), that became notable for being one of the largest post-World War II manufacturers of portable electrical generators and professional a ...

and Rapid. Hinomoto/Toyosha built some of the larger compact tractors sold as Simplicity, Deutz-Allis and Allis-Chalmers. * 1989, purchased the Middlesworth company of

Greentown, Indiana Greentown is a town in Liberty Township, Howard County, Indiana, United States. Located approximately 9 miles east of Kokomo on State Road 22 / US 35; it is home to the Howard County Fair Grounds. The town was platted in 1848, and incorporated a ...

, a manufacturer of

zero-turn mower A zero-turn riding lawn mower (colloquially, a ''z-turn'') is a standard riding lawn mower with a turning radius that is effectively zero when the two drive wheels rotate in opposite direction, like a tank turning in place. Different brands and ...

s * 2000 Simplicity announced that it had agreed to purchase Ferris Industries * 2000 purchased Giant-Vac * 2002, purchased the Snapper company * 2004, was purchased by

Briggs & Stratton Briggs & Stratton Corporation is an American manufacturer of gasoline engines with headquarters in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. Engine production averages 10 million units per year as of April 2015. The company reports that it has 13 large facilit ...

References

External links

Official website

{{Allis-Chalmers Lawn and garden tractors Manufacturing companies based in Wisconsin Agriculture companies of the United States