PEORIA MAGAZINE May 2022

P E O R I A R E T R O

REMEMBERING INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER Still feeling the loss in Canton

BY STEVE TARTER PHOTO BY STEVE TARTER

C ANTON — There ’ s an illustration on display at the Canton Area Heritage Center from a 1936 issue of the Canton Daily Ledger that depicts a giant colossus towering over a factory. The artwork accompanies an article on International Harvester, the global giant of the agricultural implement industry (and other heavy equipment) that dominated the scene in Canton for much of the 20th century. Small towns have faced plenty of challenges in recent years, but the impact of the company closing the plant in December 1983 still haunts Canton almost 40 years later. While Cook Medical has established offices on a portion of the old IH site, a large, vacant tract in the downtown provides an ongoing reminder of what Canton has lost. “The town’s at a different level than it was. It just feels different,” said Jack Pollitt, the last plant manager at the Canton facility. Canton lost more than the 2,600 jobs that International Harvester – now Navistar — provided across three shifts, said Pollitt. “Some businesses went out right away,” he said. “Therewereoncethreemen’s (clothing) stores in town. One of the employees told me that an IH executive was good for three suits a year. But after the plant closed, Harvester management wasn’t there to buy those suits,” said Pollitt.

Stephenson, a retired banker in Canton and a boardmember with CantonMain Street, an organization seeking to revitalize the downtown. Dana Smith, Canton Main Street’s president, said the IH closing impacted generations of Canton families who’d found more than employment with the firm. “It was personal,” she said. Pollitt stayed with International Harvester for a time after closing the Canton plant. But after being sent to Memphis to close the IH plant there, he decided to close out his 20-year career with Harvester. He was hired by the state of Illinois to set up the Illinois River Correctional Center, a prison that opened just west of Canton in 1989. He went on to serve as the prison’s business administrator. Meanwhi le, Canton has had to contend with other challenges besides losing the IH factory. “By the early ‘80s, area coal mines were shutting down,” said Stephenson, referring to the industry that had previously employed many in Fulton County and across the state. The fire that swept across the 31-acre Harvester site in Canton’s downtown in 1997 was estimated to have caused more than $2 million in damage. It also hurt the city’s efforts to attract other companies to the site, said Jerry Bohler, Canton’s mayor at the time. Involved with the Main Street group since 2008 and president for the past

Canton benefited from IH’s corporate presence, he said. In the 1950s and ‘60s, Canton led all Illinois towns in three per-capita categories, noted Pollitt: wages, automobile ownership, and home ownership. But when IH closed, the housing market took a dive. Pollitt said he considered selling his home after being reassigned to Harvester’s Chicago headquarters. “The reason I never soldmy home was that it was appraised at $140,000 at the time but I couldn’t sell it for $75,000,” said Pollitt, now 83. With a stalled housing market, the number of rentals skyrocketed. “There’s still a high percentage of rental properties in town,” said Kevin

46 MAY 2022 P EORIA MAGAZINE