M.W. McIntyre was a prominent Columbus banker, serving as president of the City National Bank of Columbus right after the turn of the century.

As was often the case, bank executives served on boards of local and regional industries, and McIntyre was no different. He was a director and stockholder in several Columbus industrial entities, including the Tippet Manufacturing Company, one of the leading providers of train and machinery parts, including the highly touted and patented Hayden Tank Car Relief Valve.

In 1914, McIntyre purchased the Tippet company in order to realize his ideas of building a simple and affordable farm tractor. He renamed the company the McIntyre Manufacturing Company and began building the “Farmer Boy” tractor. The tractor sold for $150 and was built on an assembly line-based plant fashioned after the approach used in building the Ford Model-T. The resulting tractor was sold and shipped throughout the world.

The tractor allows easy and short turning and the frame was built high enough for practical cultivating. Fewer parts, a less complicated construction, the use of an easily operated steering apparatus and the need of less attention are advantages claimed for this type of tractor.“  (The company later added a four-wheel version for different farmland and farm activities.)

An article in the August 1917 Farm Implements magazine described how McIntyre and his salesmen would convene a group of farmers and dealers in a field. He would start the tractor and head it down a furrow in the field, then jump off and hand out sales circulars while the driverless tractor would slowly continue straight down the field, successfully plowing as it went.

McIntyre obtained a contract with the Cuban government and needed to look to build a larger plant to meet the new sales obligations. One of his contacts was developer King Thompson, who owned the Northwest Boulevard Co. and was the founder of Upper Arlington. He pointed McIntyre to a large property with easy railroad access on Goodale Boulevard near his planned Grandview subdivision. McIntyre built a facility on 12 acres on Goodale Boulevard at the Hocking Valley Railroad tracks and moved his plant from the Locust Street location in what is now the Arena District.

After several successful years in the  Grandview plant, the Mclntyre Manufacturing Company was absorbed by the Columbus Tractor Company, which was incorporated in January 1918 with a capital stock of $1 million. The new company took over the entire business, with McIntyre remaining as sales manager. By June they were shipping 20 tractors per day. But as the economy tightened, they fell on hard times and abruptly closed after several years.