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