The Twin City Tractors: Minneapolis-Moline’s Predecessors
Before the 1929 merger that created Minneapolis-Moline, Minneapolis Steel & Machinery Co. built tractors under the Twin City name. These are MM’s direct predecessors, and — unusually for this era — they are serial-decodable here, thanks to the compiled factory serial record.
| Model | Years |
|---|---|
| Twin City 40-65 | 1910–1924 |
| Twin City 25-45 | 1913–1920 |
| Twin City 15-30 | 1913–1917 |
| Twin City 60-90 | 1916–1921 |
| Twin City 16-30 | 1917–1919 |
| Twin City 12-20 | 1918–1926 |
| Twin City 20-35 | 1920–1926 |
| Twin City 17-28 | 1926–1935 |
| Twin City 21-32 | 1926–1928 |
| Twin City 27-44 | 1926–1935 |
| Twin City 21-32 FT / FTA | 1929–1938 |
| Twin City KT (Kombination Tractor) / KTA | 1929–1938 |
| Twin City MT / MTA | 1930–1938 |
About the line
- Prairie heavyweights → standard tractors: the early 40-65/60-90/25-45 giants gave way to the lighter 12-20/20-35 and the re-rated 17-28/27-44.
- Into the MM era: the KT/KTA, MT/MTA, and FT/FTA designs were assembled by Minneapolis-Moline after the merger — the KTA and MTA evolved into the MM U, and the FTA into the MM GT.
Each model page lists serial-number-by-year ranges from the compiled Twin City record; decode a serial to date a tractor.
Sources & Verification Notes
Serial ranges and production figures are from Tony Thompson’s compiled Twin City serial record (hosted by the Minneapolis-Moline Collectors Inc., drawn from factory archives); production counts corroborate other published references. Verify against the tractor’s own number.