LeTOURNEAU: God’s Businessman
All of us remember our first jobs and the thrill of
earning our own money. I bet you also
hold in your fond memory your first ‘real job.’
Mine was 1950 when I went to work for the R.G. LeTourneau Company right
here in Peoria, Illinois. I was right out of Woodruff High School and I was a
proud young man that first day at work, I can tell you that. When I came home
after the Korean War, I went to LeToureau to get my job back. My old boss
offered it to me but suggested that I go to Bradley under the G.I. Bill. “Norm,
come on back when you have your degree,” he said, “and take over for me.” That was the attitude of the people at
LeTourneau and it all came from the man himself, Robert Gilmour LeTourneau.
I was fortunate to see Mr. LeTourneau several
times as I rode around delivering office supplies and had the honor of shaking
his hand on one occasion. We had a ‘chapel hour,’ that was offered for the
workers. Actually it was only thirty minutes long and if a worker did not want
to attend that was his business. However, most of us went because it gave us a
chance to see the big boss, who often introduced the speaker for the day. R.G. was a kind man; a man many said had a
slide ruler in one hand and a bible in the other. I feel compelled to include
this quote that showed Mr. LeTourneau’s humor. A reporter asked him how many
men he had working for him. “Oh, I’d say about half of them.” Of course the figures varied but at one time
or the other he had over 6.000 on his payroll.
R.G., as he was respectfully referred to, was a common
man, a self-educated man that rose to the top in the earth moving business. His
business, his life was guided by one principal, which he was happy to tell
every writer that ever did a story on him.
“God runs my business,” he would say, a big smile breaking out on his
friendly face. Throughout his life he
was referred to as ‘God’s Businessman.’ In a blink of his friendly eye he would
quote Mathew, verse 33: “But seek ye
first the Kingdom
Of God
I have heard Peorians speak of Mr. LeTourneau as if
Peoria, Illinois had ‘first dibs’ on him, a phrase we used as kids. Truth was
that he was a man of the world, and Peoria was just one piece of his incredible
life. Born in Vermont, Virginia,
November 30, 1889, he would accumulate over 300 patents before he succumbed to
the effects of a stroke on June 1, 1969, in Longview, Texas.
R.G. was not much for formal schooling and always
referred to himself as a self-educated man, he up and left his quiet, Christian
home in Vermont, at the tender age of fourteen. He began his career as an
apprentice ironworker in Portland, Oregon, then San Francisco, California. He became an expert welder, a woodcutter and
a carpenter. By 1909 he was an experienced manual tradesman and was ready to
take on the industrial world. By 1911 he was a partner in an auto repair shop,
and soon became an expert mechanic with a total understanding of the combustion
engine. He married Evelyn Peterson in
1917, and together they reared three boys and a girl. That same year he was not
allowed to become a soldier because of neck injuries he sustained while racing
motorcars. Instead, he went to work in a naval shipyard where he honed his
skills as a welder and electrician. In 1920 he bought a used Holt Tractor and
began a grading business. In late 1921
he had his own machine shop where he designed and built different types of
scrapers and electrical engines. Soon after that he formed the R.G. LeTourneau Company,
which would bring him fame and riches beyond even his imaginative dreams.
His company was involved in projects such as the
Hoover Dam, and numerous road-building contracts that kept him busy until 1933.
Unable to devote enough of his time to his inventing and dreams of
manufacturing his own machines, he sold the business. It was 1935 when R.G. came to Peoria,
Illinois with the idea of building his factory and getting on with his dream.
From that day forward, the rest is history, as folks like to say, and most of
his dreams were realized right here in Peoria ,
Illinois
By 1935 Peoria, Illinois had made a tremendous leap
from the throes of The Great Depression and the agonies of Prohibition. Our
population within the city limits was set at 104,969 and growing along with
Peoria County. Folks here in Peoria were
optimistic and for the first time in a long time they had a bit of jingle in
their pockets, and life was good. R.G. came to Peoria to be close to
Caterpillar, the maker of the engines that powered his road graders. It was that simple, he did not pick Peoria
for any other reasons. However, the folks here benefited from his decision, not
only then but to this day through Komatsu which is still in business at
LeTourneau’s initial property.
So for R.G. and the world it all started here in a
small brick building on the far north side of Peoria, Illinois. His inventive mind and hard-working ethics
would take him all over the world, amassing a fortune as he went. In 1953 he sold the Peoria
THE MEMORIAL
Retired employees who formed the LeTourneau
Memorial Association were determined to honor their old boss with a fitting
memorial. Four years later and armed with $25,000 in donations their dream was
realized. The twelve-foot memorial, designed by Keith Knoblock is located in
the upper section of Glen Oak Park. An additional $5.000 was raised to maintain
the monument and presented to the Peoria Park District for perpetual care. On a sunny day in May, 1988, almost a 1000
people met to dedicate the bronze statue of R. G. LeTourneau. Friends,
dignitaries and members of the LeTourneau family attended. Evelyn, R.G.’s wife,
planned to attend the ceremonies, but died in 1987 at the age of eighty-six.
Although R.G. was not born here, Peorians that knew
him, and admired his work, boasted of his connection with Peoria,
Illinois. His monument tells the world
that we are proud of this gentle, philanthropically oriented man, this industrial
pioneer…this Peorian.
Editor’s Note: Norm is a local historian and author of ten
books. norman.kelly@sbcglobal.net 309
692 6387
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