Man in front of Farm EquipmentOld Farm EquipmentOld Farm Equipment

History


Beginning in 1910 my great grandfather Alexander Maxwell and his brother Silas started laying clay field tile and building small bridges around Montgomery county Indiana. Of Alexander’s eleven children three, of his sons Jack, Birle, and Walter continued the business into the 1960's.

 We don't know when exactly they got their first Buckeye tiling machine, but until then everything was dug by hand. My grandfather, Ralph (Windy) Maxwell, helped my great uncles part time and that's how Bart Maxwell Sr. got involved with the business. Jack and Birle never had any children so they took my father under their wing teaching him the family trade.

In 1965, Bart Sr. and Mike Maxwell, his cousin, purchased their first Buckeye and hired there since retired uncle, Birle, to run the machine for them. Within a short time Mike was drafted in the military and sold his half of the business back to Bart Sr. Mike is presently the owner of Maxwell Well Drilling in Darlington IN. The ongoing joke around here is he finds water and we get rid of it.

 Back to Bart Sr. up until this time not much had changed in the industry aside from your basic wheel trencher, but big things were on the horizon. My father became one of five Hoes Trencher dealers for the U.S. and Canada. Hoes built chain trencher and plows. These machines were much faster and more efficient, but that was nothing compared to the advent of the laser grade control system. Bart Sr. did much of the testing with laser plane and for many years I remember using the second laser that was ever made.

As if there wasn’t enough change, here came plastic field tile, maybe one of the greatest game changers thus far. All this happened within about a 10 to 15 year span. I don't think we have ever seen a period of such innovation in our future.

 At the age of 57 Bart Sr. passed away unexpectedly while moving a machine to a local jobsite and with that the end of an era. I was 24 years of age. I was a 1999 Graduate of Wyoming Technical Institute and working as a heavy equipment technician traveling the eastern half of the U.S. Although I loved my career, when my father passed away I took a few weeks off to finish jobs that were going on at the time. That's when some of my dad's customers started to persuade me into taking a serious look at taking over the business.

 I thought about the reputation my family had built and the customer base that trusted and depended on the Maxwell name for many years. So I quit my job, sold all my toys, and borrowed all the money a 24 year old could. I like to think that my wife, Joellyn, and I have taken the business to yet another level after 104 years and 4 generations.

 It’s been a great experience working in the agriculture industry with hard working, down to earth people that strive for the same outcome as my company, to preserve our soil and water for years to come.