Reviving a Bankrupt Manufacturing Company
American agriculture has long been tied to machinery innovation, and one small but important story in that history begins in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the mid-19th century.
In 1860, entrepreneur Edward P. Ellis purchased a bankrupt manufacturing firm known as Reliance Works at a sheriff’s auction. Though the company had failed financially, Ellis recognized the opportunity to rebuild the business during a time when steam power was transforming both industry and agriculture…