The Lloyd Company

We like to drive to Bainbridge, Ohio in Ross County. The Ross County area was one of the first settled in Ohio in the late 1700's and Chillicothe, to the east was Ohio's first capitol.

The Drummond family started a farm machinery business there in the early 1900's and expanded to Chillicothe, Portsmouth, Washington Court House and Hillsboro. Mr. Drummond sold Oliver and Massey Harris farm equipment and later added John Deere.

He was instrumental to bringing the World Plowing Championship to nearby Adam's County in the 1950's. I remember the tractors and plows coming from Cincinnati east past our farm in Sardinia to those plowing matches.

Oliver Corporation built two 99 Oliver tractors to display at the matches with chrome grills and trim. When they were ready to take them back to the factory, Mr. Drummond told them, oh no you are not taking those back and he bought both of them. One was sold to his brother and they both are still in southern Ohio.

When the first Massey Harris twine tie balers were being built, the dealers were asked how many they would take. One dealer said he would take one, one said two and one said four. When Mr. Drummond's turn came, he said he would take 100! That is the kind of man he was, a big thinker well ahead of his time.

I tell you all of this after hearing the story again from his grandson, Byron Lloyd. Byron was here yesterday delivering LuAnn's second new matching Lane chair for our living room. He had told me these stories on the last trip here and I had to hear them again so I could share them with you.

The Lloyds have a nice hardware and furniture store in Bainbridge. Yes, hardware and furniture! I imagine the hardware is carry over from the old Drummond days and Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd added the furniture as they grew their business.

Mr. Lloyd just bought an Oliver 77 pedal tractor built for Oliver Farm Equipment in the 60's for his grandson. That reminded me of the Super 88 pedal tractor and matching trailer with tear drop fenders I bought at an auction 30 years ago. People talked as I bid $230 for the pair but it is worth thousands today.

If you ever drive through Bainbridge, Ohio on U.S. 50, be sure to stop at Lloyd's adn say hi. They are great people to deal with.

The picture is a field in Ross County in the 1800's. See how tall the open pollinated corn grew!

Ed