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History

BOBCAT COMPANY HISTORY

A legacy of innovation to help customers tackle tough jobs.

Our History

A Legacy of Innovation

Bobcat Company was founded on innovation. Since the beginning, we’ve engineered machines that empower people to accomplish more. That focus is what kick-started our business in 1947 and what drives us forward today – innovating the best equipment, technology and services to help customers tackle their toughest jobs.

Inventing an Industry

Bobcat Founders Innovated from the Ground Up

There was a time when compact equipment didn’t exist. Machinery only came in one size: big. If you were trying to tackle a tough job in a small space, your only choice was a shovel and a wheelbarrow. There wasn’t anything that was both compact and powerful.  

However, brothers and blacksmiths Louis and Cyril Keller of Rothsay, Minnesota, were accustomed to building small machinery for farmers. Their custom equipment tended to fall into one of two categories: farm work or clearing snow. The brothers excelled in both areas – building plowshares for farmers as well as walk-behind and self-propelled snowblowers to take on tough Minnesota winters.

Eddie Velo Operating The Keller Three-Wheeled Loader

Where It All Began

In 1956, local turkey farmer Eddie Velo approached the Keller brothers with a unique problem. He was looking for a machine to quickly clear manure from the second floor of his barn. Standard loader tractors in that era were too heavy to tread safely on a second story and too unwieldy to navigate barn poles. The Keller brothers didn’t have a machine in their shop to meet Eddie’s challenge, but they knew how to build light, maneuverable snowblowers and plows.

The Keller Brothers’ First Three-Wheeled Compact Loader

An Industry Was Born

Through a process of trial and error, field tests on Eddie Velo’s turkey farm and continuous tinkering and learning, the Kellers built the first three-wheeled compact loader. Before long, other farmers wanted one of their own, and the brothers couldn’t keep up with demand. In 1958, they partnered with the four Melroe brothers – Les, Cliff, Roger and Irv. The brothers owned Melroe Manufacturing Company, a North Dakota fabricating company, and began to mass produce machines. The compact equipment industry was born.

One Of The First Four-Wheeled Loaders On Display Outside Of Melroe Manufacturing Company

Introducing the Bobcat Brand

Soon after, the machines the Keller brothers invented and Melroe Manufacturing Company produced were officially branded as "Bobcat" equipment – in honor of the quick, agile and tough prairie animal. The rest, as they say, is history.