Tazewell County
Photo of the Month

The Holt Manufacturing Company came to East Peoria (Tazewell County) to build earth moving tractors in 1909.  The company would be renamed to the Caterpillar Tractor Company in 1925.  The East Peoria area would become known as the "Earthmoving Capital of the World".

This 1930's photo shows Caterpillar bulldozers being loaded onto an Illinois River barge near the East Peoria plant.  The skyline of Peoria, Illinois can be seen across the river.  These tractors are being shipped to John Fabick Tractor Company in Missouri.

Citation:

Editor: Gilbert C. Nolde,
All in a Day's Work - Seventy-five Years of Caterpillar,
 (Peoria: Caterpillar Public Affairs, Caterpillar Tractor Company, 2000), 92.

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