Charles Henry Parr

Charles Henry Parr (March 18, 1868–June 10, 1941) was an American mechanical engineer, inventor, and pioneer in the development of the gasoline powered agricultural tractor and cofounder of Hart-Parr Company.[1]

Charles Henry Parr

Early life and education

Parr was born March 18, 1868 in Wisconsin, the son of Martha and John Parr. He had five siblings. He attended high school at Dodgeville, Wisconsin before attaining a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he met his future partner Charles Walter Hart.[2] Both men graduated with honors.[3]

Career
The front nameplate of a Hart Parr tractor, built before 1930 in Charles City, Iowa, preserved in the Fillmore County History Center Museum in Fountain, Minnesota
Hart-Parr tractor

After graduation, and while still in Madison, Parr and Harr established a small engine company. They then moved to Charles City, Iowa, where Hart was born,[3][4] and started the Hart-Parr Company. In 1902, they developed a gasoline engine for tractors, and one year later invented the first known kerosene-run engine, which needed just 50% of the fuel that ran the gasoline engine.[4] Also in 1903, they built the country's first internal combustion engine.[3] For a time Hart-Parr tractors were a leading type, sold in the US and other countries.[1] During World War I, the company also made shells for the army.[5]

Parr left the company in 1923 to work for the Street Sweeper Company in Elgin, Illinois,[6] but returned and stayed with Hart-Parr and the successor Oliver Farm Equipment Company until his death in 1941.[1]

Personal life

He married Gertrude Gates of Beloit, Wisconsin in August 1898. They had a son and five daughters.[2] He served on the library and school boards and was a leader of the First Congregationalist Church. He was also an active member of the Freemasons, including being high priest of the Royal Arch Masons and commander of the Knights Templar. During a family vacation to Los Angeles, California, Parr died on June 10, 1941. Gertrude died months earlier on February 17, 1941. They are buried at Riverside Cemetery, Charles City, Iowa.[2]

His home, the Charles Henry Parr House, in Charles City, Iowa is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[7]

References
  1. C.H. Wendel (29 November 2011). Oliver Hart-Parr. Krause Publications. p. 57. ISBN 0-87349-929-8.
  2. "Charles H. Parr, Tractor Inventor, Died". The Nashua Reporter. Nashua, Iowa. June 18, 1941. p. 3. Retrieved May 29, 2017 – via newspapers.com.
  3. "Hart Parr Tractor - 1903: Earliest known internal-combustion-engined agricultural tractor in the United States". The American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Retrieved May 29, 2017.
  4. "Charles H. Parr, Pioneer in Tractor Manufacturing Dies". The Mason City Globe-Gazette. Mason City, Iowa. June 11, 1941. p. 1. Retrieved May 29, 2017 – via newspapers.com.
  5. "Manufacture War Shells: Hart-Parr Machinery Nearly Completed for $1,500,000 Order for Army Shells". The Nashua Reporter. Nashua, Iowa. December 2, 1915. p. 1. Retrieved May 29, 2017 – via newspapers.com.
  6. "Founder Leaves Hart-Parr Firm at Charles City". The Des Moines Register. Des Moines, Iowa. November 25, 1923. p. 45. Retrieved May 29, 2017 – via newspapers.com.
  7. M.H. Bowers. "Charles Henry Parr House". National Park Service. Retrieved May 29, 2017. with photos

Further reading

Media related to Hart-Parr tractors at Wikimedia Commons

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