St. Joseph Equipment - History

St. Joseph Equipment was started in the village of St. Joseph (located just outside of La Crosse) Wisconsin, in 1948. It's founder , William Schams, Sr., started the business as a Ferguson (later to become "Massey
Ferguson") tractor dealership. The current owner, William G Schams, Jr., purchased the company from his father in 1956. In the early 1960's, St. Joseph Equipment expanded its offering to include the industrial line of
Massey Ferguson.

St. Joseph Equipment moved into its first new building in 1965 and the company was incorporated under the name St. Joseph's Equipment, Inc. On January 1, 1970, the name was changed to St. Joseph Equipment Inc.



Through 1974, the agricultural and construction equipment shared the same facility. In January of 1975, a new building was finished and dedicated strictly to the industrial/construction side of the business.



In 1978, Massey Ferguson terminated its offering of heavy industrial equipment and St. Joseph Equipment became a distributor for Case and Ford.



In 1992, St. Joseph Equipment added locations in the Minneapolis and Duluth, Minnesota, markets, giving it a total of three locations selling and servicing construction equipment.



In July of 2000, a new agricultural facility was completed across the street from the old facility which also houses the corporate offices.



In January of 2004, St. Joseph Equipment acquired Rochester Ford Tractor at 3584 81st St. NW, Oronoco, MN. The Rochester facility handles both agricultural and construction equipment.



Currently, St. Joseph Equipment, Inc. serves all of western Wisconsin, and most of the state of Minnesota from six locations. Three of our stores deal primarily with industrial/construction equipment, one with
industrial/construction/forestry, one with agricultural/construction and one location with agricultural equipment. St. Joseph Equipment offers sales, service, rentals, parts, and on site repairs.