The Rock Island Plow Co. was founded in Rock Island, Illinois in the USA, in 1855 as Buford & Tate (former partner and friend of John Deere). In 1884 The company was reorginized into the Rock Island Plow Co. one of the largest implement companies of the day. Rock Island never produced steam engines or their own gas engine line, although in 1911, they started to market other company's gas engines under their own name. In 1914 Rock Island partnered with the Heider Manufacturing Co. of Carroll, Iowa, USA. After two years they bought Heider out, but continued using the name on the tractor line till the late 1920s.