John Froelich (August 9, 1849–May 23, 1933) was an American inventor who lived in Clayton County, Iowa, and invented the first practical gasoline-powered farm tractor. John Froelich attended school at the College of Iowa. There he learned a lot about machinery. After college, he decided he would build the very first tractor. Purchased by Deere & Company in 1918, and became the John Deere Tractor Company. Froelich, who received little money or recognition for his invention, died from a heart attack in 1933, in St. Paul, Minnesota. He was inducted to the Iowa Inventors Hall of Fame in 1991.