In the early 1880s, Furst & Bradley Mfg. Co., Chicago, produced a chromolithograph poster advertising its Garden City combined riding and walking cultivator. The poster was designed by Clay & Richmond Printers, Buffalo and Chicago. The unknown artist’s imaginative palette and paintbrushes with a corn stalk presented in a rural setting enhances the beauty of this well-composed image of a simple cultivator.
David Bradley began the manufacture of farm machinery in 1838 in McHenry, Ill., and later in Racine, Wis. In 1854 he moved to Chicago and purchased a plow company from his brother-in-law and took in a partner, Conrad Furst. The firm made plows and other farm implements under the name Furst & Bradley.
In 1872, a stock company, Furst & Bradley Mfg. Co., was organized. The company lasted until 1884 when David Bradley and his sons bought out Conrad Furst and changed the name to the Bradley Mfg. Co. The company was relocated to North Kankakee (later renamed Bradley in honor of the man and the company) and continued to manufacture Garden City cultivators and plows. In 1910, the Bradley family sold the factory to Sears, Roebuck & Co., and it was renamed the David Bradley Mfg. Works. From 1910 to 1962, many of the farm and garden items sold by Sears carried the David Bradley name. FC