 The Beginning
In 1941 Charles B. (Bud) Hoober signed an agreement to sell International Harvester (IH) Farm Equipment in Intercourse, Pennsylvania. At that time IH company representatives thought they needed a dealer in the heart of Lancaster County's Amish community, so they chose Intercourse to begin a new dealership. They wanted to be ready when the Amish traded in their horses for tractors - a fact which never became a reality. The first Charles B. (Bud) Hoober IH dealership was located in a small, confined building on the north side of The Old Phila Pike in Intercourse. The business remained at this location for twenty-four years until Bud formed a partnership with his only son, Charles B. Hoober, Jr, in 1965. At that time they moved their Intercourse business across the road to their present-day facility. When the farm machinery manufacturers began building higher horse power tractors in the early 1970s, several Hoober customers purchased large four-wheel drive tractors in New York state. C. B. Hoober & Son signed a contract in 1975 to sell Steiger tractors in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and Delaware. Needing larger tillage equipment to go with the 200 plus horsepower four-wheel drive tractors, Charlie and Bud contracted with Krause Plow Corporation and Sunflower Manufacturing to sell their flex-wing disc harrows, chisel plows and field cultivators.
Hoober Expands to Delmarva
In 1976 Charlie and Bud opened Hoober Equipment Inc. in Sudlersville, Maryland to sell Steiger Tractors and big tillage equipment on the Delmarva Peninsula. The next year, 1977, the Hoober organization sold thirty-five Steiger Tractors. In order to manage the growing business C. B. Hoober & Son was incorporated in 1979 with Bud Hoober as Chairman and Charlie Hoober as President. Richard Bomberger (Parts Manager), Tom Yohe (Charlie's Assistant Manager) were elected officers and purchased stock in the new corporation. IH introduced the Axial Flow combine in 1977. Hoober's Intercourse organization immediately saw its potential and began to specialize in combine service and repair by separating service management into two departments - tractors and combines/implements. In 1979 they sold twenty-five new Axial Flow combines. When the Carter Administration embargoed grain shipments to the Soviet Union in 1980 the Ag economy on the Delmarva Peninsula declined dramatically. Unable to survive with just the Steiger and tillage contracts, Hoober Equipment Inc needed the IH contract so they purchased White Bros Supply Company in 1982 and moved the business to Middletown, Delaware.
Charlie Hoober Becomes Principal Manager of the Business
Charles B. (Bud) Hoober died unexpectedly in 1984, only days before IH announced that they were selling their Ag Machinery Manufacturing business to Tenneco. By this time the management of the business was firmly in the hands of his son, Charlie. In the Spring of 1989, Charles A. (Chuck) Hoober, Charlie's oldest son, accepted the post of General Manager of Hoober Equipment Inc, in Middletown, DE. Chuck and Clarence Lefever (Corporate Controller) purchased stock the same year.
New Facility in Delaware and Acquisition of McAlisterville Dealership
In December, 1993 Hoobers moved their Middletown business into a new 40,000 square foot facility. C. B. Hoober & Son Inc purchased Inch Equipment, the Case IH dealer in McAlisterville, PA, in February, 1996. Brad Hershey, a grandson of Bud Hoober, moved from Middletown, DE where he had been a salesman for 10 years, to manage Hoober's newest farm machinery dealership nestled in the hills of Central Pennsylvania.
New Store Added in Delaware
On January 1, 1997 C. B. Hoober & Son in PA and Hoober Equipment Inc. in DE changed their names to Hoober, Inc. As of July 10, 2002 Hoober, Inc added a fourth store in Seaford, Delaware. Cecil and Ben Tull and their family before them sold IH and Case IH equipment in Seaford since 1939. Both men and the majority of their employees joined Hoober, Inc. This acquisition gives Hoober, Inc. a solid presence on the central part of the Eastern Shore. |
