Digging Up the Past
Howard Peterson founds Peterson Tractor & Equipment Co.
Howard Peterson and wife, Marion, just learn
they've got the Caterpillar dearlership for
SF Bay Area at a trade show in Cleveland
In 1936, Howard Peterson founded Peterson Tractor & Equipment Company - the San Francisco Bay Area dealership for Caterpillar Tractor. Howard was born, George Howard Peterson, on June 27, 1906 in Napa Junction, California. He grew up in Stockton where his family provided room and board for a young man named RG "Bob" LeTourneau who would later marry Howard's oldest sister, Evelyn. LeTourneau would go on to become one of the major heavy equipment manfacturers of the 20th century.
As a youngster, Howard became keenly interested in machinery by helping his new brother-in-law after school. "Bob taught me how to weld and operate machinery. He taught me how to drive a tractor before I could barely see through the steering wheel." From that allliance, Howard went on to become a master welder, helping to build some of LeTourneau's earliest scrapers and often acting as an operator/instructor or working foreman on many LeTourneau projects: Philbrook Dam near Paradise, CA ... Boulder Dam access road near Las Vegas ... approach to original Benicia RR bridge ... Marysville levees ... Hwy 9 at Carmel, CA ... Newhall Bypass on Hwy 5 ... and Santiago Dam, Orange County.
Often, LeTourneau paid his employees half in cash and half in company stock. In 1935, RG put his company stock on the SF Stock Exchange and in short order the stock shot up beyond all expectations. It was through the proceeds of his LeTourneau stock that Howard was able to fund his own company - Peterson Tractor & Equipment Company - which officially opened on November 16, 1936 in San Francisco, CA.
The young company started out in the five-county territory of the San Francisco Bay Area (Marin, SF, Alameda, San Mateo and Contra Costa) with an initial outlay of $150,000, three stores and two dozen employees. It was at a time when the nation was just starting to recover from the devastation of the Great Depression. It was a time for new beginnings, new ideas and men who weren't afraid to take risks. Howard was more than ready.
 
Howard in Dole Pineapple Ad in mid-40s Peterson's Executive Committee - 1966
RELATED STORIES ...
• Howard goes to Cuba for Kaiser
• Howard's early partnership
• Early character building
• Ground Breaking - New HQs
• Peterson Ranches (1950-2004)
• Howard Peterson Remembered
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Peterson's first Advertisement - 1936
Howard Peterson in his new office in
San Leandro at 955 First Ave
(later renamed Marina Blvd) - 1949
Peterson execs at CAT factory - early-60s
Brothers Buster & Howard Peterson
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