Скачать или смотреть Celebrating Birkey's 70th Anniversary | Part 8 | Favorite Innovations

Birkey’s, now a network of 19 dealerships plus an administrative office, began as a mere two-person operation in the small town of Fisher, Ill. The Birkey brothers were farm boys that showed an early mechanical ability – especially Ellis “Turk” Birkey, who has been dubbed a “mechanical genius.” Turk aspired to become a service technician from a young age, and his younger brothers were right there behind him following in his footsteps. Come along as Birkey's has been celebrating their 70th anniversary, and in part 1 we introduce 3 former Presidents of the company.

Turk and his younger brother, Marvin, left the family farm when they were only teenagers to begin building their dream to service farm equipment and opened Birkey’s Service in Fisher. At the same time, the third Birkey brother, Floyd, worked at the local Allis Chalmers dealership before WWII and managed the dealership after the war until 1954. When the local International Harvester dealership went out of business in 1954, Turk, Marvin, and Floyd partnered with local businessman Jack McJilton to open Birkey’s Farm Store in Fisher as the new IH dealer. Their younger brother, Kelly, was the first Birkey’s Farm Store employee when he was hired as a service technician.

Just two years later in 1956, the Birkey brothers acquired the IH franchise in Thomasboro. Three years later, they consolidated these operations by opening a new store in Rantoul, which sparked the Birkey’s Farm Store franchise to transition from a small hometown dream to a growing network of opportunity.

A second IH franchise was acquired in Paxton in 1967 and with this transition came two new owners – Kelly Birkey, who managed the Paxton store, and Gary Hedge, who managed the Rantoul store.

Birkey’s made its mark and blazed the trail in 1969 by becoming the first Steiger tractor dealer east of the Mississippi River. At this point in time, Steiger was a new name in the industry and had only had tractors on the market for a couple of years.

An IH dealership was acquired in Hoopeston in 1978 and one in Williamsport in 1983. There was a significant shift in the business when Tenneco, Case’s parent company, purchased the agricultural division of International Harvester in 1984. This was the beginning of the Case IH brand. Customers and dealers of both companies questioned and feared the future of the farm equipment they had been so loyal to.

Former Birkey’s owner Jim Campbell was an owner at Oakland Farm Supply before it merged with Birkey’s. Oakland Farm Supply was historically a Case dealer – and very loyal to the brand. Campbell remembers the merger all too well.

Birkey’s had several automotive dealerships over the span of about 25 years, and even had golf and turf contracts for the southern two thirds of Illinois and the eastern third of Missouri. After a number of years, they decided to exit the auto and golf and turf businesses.

In 1988, a Case Construction Equipment franchise was added in Urbana – the first of the four Birkey’s construction equipment locations that stand today.

An IH dealership was acquired in Urbana in 1987. Not long after, Birkey’s merged with Oakland Farm Supply and with McGrath, Inc. of Gibson City and Hudson in 1991 and 1992 respectively.

In response to this new growth, the internal structure of Birkey’s shifted in 1993 when an administrative office was added in Rantoul to take care of human resources, accounting, and more. This was an essential step towards store employees stepping back from those tasks so they could focus more on the store’s needs.

Adding the administrative office really allowed us to take some of those repetitive tasks, like accounting duties and warranty processing, off the individual stores so that they could focus on interacting and engaging with customers and serving them well,” said Mike Hedge, Birkey’s former CEO.

An opportunity that required a leap of faith arose in 2001 when Case IH lost a multi-dealership franchise in western Illinois. Case IH customers were driving 100 miles just for parts or service, so Case IH suggested Birkey’s open a store in the western Illinois. There was hesitation at first, as acquisitions thus far were in contiguous areas, but they took the leap of faith and opened a store in Galesburg in 2002.

Birkey’s was awarded ‘Dealership of the Year’ by Farm Equipment Magazine In 2007 – an honor bestowed to only one dealership out of nearly 7,000 in North America.

Birkey’s became 100% employee-owned in December of 2021, transitioning the business structure to an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). This plan awards employees with shares of the company every year as part of their retirement plan.

As the legacy the Birkey brothers began 70 years ago continues to grow, so does our commitment to continually building genuine relationships with our customers and the communities we serve.