Mutual Wheel Company
The Mutual Wheel Company, Moline, Illinois, was organized in 1891 and
commenced operations on the present site about the first of January, 1
892. The original capital in-vested by the stockholders was about $40,000,
and about fifty men were at first employed. Mr. D. M. Sechler, founder of
the D. M. Sechler Carriage Company, was the first president of this
company, and Morris Rosen-field was the first vice-president. The business
of the company has increased very rapidly until at. the present time the
factory is one of the largest in the United States in this line.
The present capital stock of the company is $300,000 and two hundred and
fifty skilled mechanics are employed throughout the year. The annual
output is more than 100,000 sets of wheels for carriages, wagons, buggies,
etc. The factory has always found a ready sale for all of its products and
the Mutual wheels are well known throughout the west. A large proportion
of the wheels manufactured go to the large carriage manufacturers at home
and in this vicinity.
Besides the factory here the company has a number of branch stock plants
in the timber districts of the south and a large force of timber buyers
are constantly employed looking after good hickory timber out of which to
make spokes and felloes for the wheels. The present officers of the
company are as follows: J. L. Robinson, president, Freeport, Illinois; J.
C. Moon, vice-president, St. Louis, Missouri; George McMaster, secretary
and treasurer, Moline, Illinois.
Source: Historic Rock Island County, pub. Kramer & Company, Rock Island, Illinois, 1908