The Racine-Sattley plant, with inset photos of Archibald and Marshall Sattley, from 1917 advertisement
Operating under a variety of names, Hummer Manufacturing Co. (originally Sattley Manufacturing Co.) was one of Springfield’s most important industries for more than 70 years.
The firm originated in 1851 as a small farm-machinery manufacturer operated in the Rochester area by brothers Archibald (1837-1901) and Marshall (1831-1907) Sattley. Sattley Manufacturing was formally established in Taylorville in 1858 and remained there until the brothers relocated to Springfield about 1888.
The new Sattley plant covered a four-square-block, seven-acre site on the southeast corner of Ninth Street and South Grand Avenue.
Sattley merged with the Racine Wagon & Carriage Co. of Racine, Wis., in 1903 and took the name of Racine-Sattley Manufacturing. Products included the Wonder Gang Plow (above, about 1915).
Racine-Sattley was purchased in 1916 by Montgomery Ward & Co. and renamed the Hummer Plow Works (at the time, the Hummer was the plant’s best-known plow model). The plant had 500 employees in 1912.
Hummer products included horse-drawn tillage tools, washing machines, coaster wagons, kids bikes, folding camp beds, windmills, poultry equipment, air compressors, bottle cappers, gas engines, cream separators, water supply systems and hammer mills. Tillage tool production ceased about 1931.
Hummer’s last products included water systems, power takeoffs, trailer running gears, hammer mills and pump jacks. The plant closed in 1958.
See also: Illinois Agricultural Works.
Original content copyright Sangamon County Historical Society. You are free to republish this content as long as credit is given to the Society. Learn how to support the Society.
I need information on hummer brand hammer mills.
@Micah
My name is Charlie Hayes. My father, Larry Hayes, was maintenance superintendent at Hummers until they closed. At the time he was there, they made washers and dryers for Montgomery Ward. My Dad and I used to go to the plant every Saturday morning for a walk-through when I was a kid. It was a real treat for me. I remember three guys who worked for him: Jack Coombs, Dewey Crammer,
and Scotty McDonald. I don’t have any info on the hammer mills.
Thanks for your comment, Mr. Hayes. I’m hoping another reader will have some information on hammer mills, but I’m doing some checking myself as well.
I need all the information on the Hummer gas engine. Dates they were made and etc.
Was the Hummer factory building destroyed by fire sometime mid to late 1960s? I remember walking with my mom one night to that area (9th and South Grand, and there was a huge fire.)
It was torn down in 1961 to make way for Steinberg Baum, which opened that November. S-B had a fire in their warehouse on February 10, 1962.
I just want to say that what you do at Springfield Rewind and putting it on line for the rest of us is SO appreciated. It is so educational (for those of us who care about Springfield’s history). And then to allow others to respond to assist with the education of the rest of us is awesome. Thank you all!
Ms. Le Seure: The name is SangamonLink.org (Springfield Rewind is a Facebook page not related to us), but we appreciate the compliment anyway. Thanks very much, and please keep reading.
My father-in-law, Robert Collebrusco, was a machinist there making artillery parts around 1943.