Edwin F Peterson

Early life

Edwin Franklin Peterson, the son of Swedish immigrants Lawrence Franklin Peterson (1879-1966) and Emma (Matson) Peterson (1884-1915), was born in Kewanee, Henry County, Illinois December 14, 1909. His father, Lawrence, was raised on a family farm in Malmö, Sweden, during the late 1880s. From a young age, Lawrence learned how to keep bees and produce honey in the family’s apiary. In school, he became apprenticed in pattern making. At the turn of the 20th Century, Lawrence and his younger brother Mauritz (1886-1970) joined the many immigrants making their way to the United States. Edwin's father, Lawrence, soon began his own patternmaking business in his basement, while growing the family apiary in the Kewanee area. Edwin, as a child in Kewanee, observed his father working in the apiary and in patternmaking, later helping with the bees and in the patternmaking business. In high school, Edwin took classes in drafting and patternmaking. Upon graduation, he worked in his father’s basement producing patterns for Walworth Foundry, Kewanee Boiler Corporation, Kewanee Corporation, and other large manufacturers in the Kewanee, Illinois area. Edwin and his wife, Dorothy Margaret Heath (1912-2004), had one son, Edwin H. Peterson, in 1935.

Peterson Honey

Lawrence and his son Edwin F. sold honey throughout Illinois under the name of Peterson Honey, delivering jars from the back of an old pickup truck. Eventually, Lawrence and Edwin produced 20,000 to 30,000 pounds of honey per year. Every summer, they had a booth at the Illinois State Fair and enterd their honey to be judged. For many consecutive years, they won ribbons for first or second place, earning “Sweepstakes Purple” many times. The honey became so well known at the fair that the Illinois Governor would personally come to the booth each year and place an order for 50 pounds of Peterson Honey. Edwin’s expertise and reputation with honey served him well, as he was elected to serve office in The Illinois State Beekeepers Association, including vice president for 1929 and 1933, Secretary for 1934 and 1935, and three terms as President in the early 1940s. He also was appointed by the governor of Illinois to head the State Bee-Keepers' Commission in 1942. Known as "Honey Peterson," Edwin spoke to clubs and other interested parties about beekeeping.

Involvement in Local Government

Edwin became active in local government beginning in the early 1940s, while working as a beekeeper in his aviary and as a patternmaker at Wm. Demmler & Bros. before establishing Martin Engineering. In 1943, he was appointed to the post of City Treasurer of Kewanee, and the following year he was elected by the city council to the position of city clerk. He also served as Commissioner of Water and Light, Street Commissioner, and acting Mayor of Kewanee for nearly seven months to complete the term of Mayor Fred J. Brown, who resigned to enter active duty as captain in the Army during the Korean War in October, 1951. In addition, after moving to Neponset, Illinois, from Kewanee, Edwin was elected Mayor of the village of Neponset on April 16, 1957, and he served as mayor until 1968. He also was elected President of the Board of Trustees of Neponset April 18, 1961 and April 24, 1965. He was then elected by the stockholders as President of Whaples and Farmers State Bank in Neponset from 1970 to 1976. This extensive involvement in local government lead to Edwin's election in a nonpartisan election on November 18, 1969, as one of one hundred sixteen delegates, two for each of the state senatorial districts, to serve as delegate from the 36th Senatorial District on the Sixth Constitutional Convention. The Con-Con officially convened on December 8, 1969, and adopted the 1970 Illinois Constitution on September 3, 1970. Edwin was one of the fourteen members of the Local Government Committee, serving along with Richard M. Daley under Chairman John C. Parkhurst and Vice Chairman Philip J. Carey.

Creation of Martin Engineering

Working in a foundry, Edwin had come to observe the use of hammer force to release products from molds. He began to theorize ways to use vibration in order to release the products with less destructive force and noise and more efficiency. In 1944, Edwin made a patent application for a rotational vibrator, issued in 1949, and the vibrator it protected was given the trademark VIBROLATOR™. Edwin acquired the company’s first building on Rose Street in Kewanee, where he began to manufacture and market the Peterson VIBROLATOR™. Edwin noticed that the name “Peterson” did not have good market recognition. Through attending international foundry shows with his product, he found the name of his friend, Martin, to be an established name in the industry. He preferred the added descriptive name “Engineering” to be a symbol of quality and precision. Martin Machine Company allowed Edwin to use the name "Martin," thereby the creation Martin Engineering. Edwin moved Martin Engineering nine miles east from Kewanee to Neponset, Illinois, in 1954, where it has grown into a global corporation that has developed hundreds of products, with over 130 patents and trademarks worldwide, to make bulk-materials handling cleaner, safer, and more productive.

Edwin F. Peterson Life Achievements

Death

He died in 1981.