A notable inventor of early lawn and garden machinery, Cecil Pond died recently in Florida at age 87. Pond, an Indiana native, was the founder of Wheel Horse Products and the inventor of the modern North American riding mower, according to biographer Michael Martino, Jr., who wrote a company history in 2001. After serving in the Army during World War II, Pond and his father began making a small farm tractor out of their garage in 1946. The company was first called Pond Tractor Co., but they changed the name to Wheel Horse Products because another family member had a company with a similar name.

The company began by building two-wheel, self-propelled “Walk-Away” garden tractors sold under the Pond name. In 1947, a four-wheel tractor, the “Ride-Away” model, was introduced for garden use, and the company later came up with the idea of making a tractor people could use to cut grass. “He invented the riding mower because he didn’t like to mow the lawn,” said his son, Gary. According to Martino, Pond’s mower changed the landscape of American lawns and revolutionized the lawn and garden industry and post-war American suburbia. The company offered 22 tractor attachments, and employed 500 at its South Bend plant before Wheel Horse Products was sold to American Motors Corp. in 1975. In 1986, the company was sold to Toro. After 20 more years of selling the product, Toro dropped the brand from its product line in 2006. Despite its disappearance from the marketplace, the classic American tractor logo and its machines live on through a strong network of Wheel Horse collector clubs.