Morrowville, Kansas

Home of the World's First Bulldozer

Morrowville, Kansas, is the home of the world's first bulldozer, an oak blade crudely mounted on a Fordson tractor.  The apparatus was patented by two Morrowville men, J. Darly McLeod and James Cummings in 1925.  A replica of the orginal model is displayed in Cummings Park in Morrowville, Kansas.

The Sinclair Oil Company laid it's famous "oil highway" from Teapot Dome, Wyoming to Freeman, Missoouri, in the early 1920's.  The pipeline crossed Washington County Kansas in 1923.  Young Cummings observed the laborious backfilling of the trenches by mules and slip scrapers where the pipeline crossed his own farm and concluded that there had to be a better way.  The teams couldn't begin to keep up with the trenching machinery used by the workmen.

Cummings explained his idea to Sinclair officials, and was encouraged to build a motorized prototype.  McLeod, a draftsman, recalled, "Jim told me Friday Noon that something had to be built by eight o'clock Monday morning.  I spent four hours at the drafting board, and we began gathering up odds and ends from junk yards all over Washington County.  By Monday we were ready."

The main component was a Model T frame.  Other gadgetry included windmill springs and an assortment of automobile and tractor parts.  McLeod was quoted in 1982 as saying, "The bulldozer was crudely constructed, but solidly built to stand the gaff.  It was not overly pretty, but it was hell for stout."

After building the first successful bulldozer, Cummings and McLeod were given a contract to complete the backfilling of the line from Deshler, Nebraska, to Freeman, Missouri.  The two men worked together in the oil business for about two and a half years after the instant success of the invention.  When McLeod's wife died in Oklahoma, leaving him with two young children, he sold his share of the invention to his partner for $500.00 and returned to Washington County, Kansas.

Cummings role in the invention of the bulldozer took him off of the farm and thrust him into the mushrooming oil business.  He went on to be known as "Mr. Pipeliner" as he brought the pipeline industry from "behind the mule's tail and put it on wheels."  Cummings pipeline inventions were numerous in the years to come.

The city park in Morrowville was named Cummings Park in honor of Jim Cummings.  In June 1985, the City of Morrowville, Kansas unveiled a replica of the design of the first bulldozer placed in the park by the Morrowville Community Club.  Duane and Frank Durst assembled and painted the replica and refinished the tractor, furnished by Earl and Leota Moore.  Dedication of the replica was made a year after the City of Morrowville celebrated its centennial in June 1984.  Earl McLeod, Washington Kansas, and Ernest and Sally Cummings, San Marcos, Texas, attended the dedications.  Ernest is the son of the late Jim Cummings.

No positive information is available to determine how the term "bulldozer" was coined.  A song has been written by Michael Allen, Lawrence, Kansas, entitled, "Ballad of the Bulldozer".

On May 22, 1884, Cal Morrow dedicated to public use the streets and alleys of the town of Morrow and recorded the plat with the Register of Deeds.  The town's name was changed from Morrow to Morrowville on June 7, 1894, because of confusion with the Brown County Kansas town of Morrill.

Copyright Duane Durst