58 Plymouth October 1, 2025

I just returned from my fourth trip to Plymouth, Ohio, home of the once Fate Root Heath company where SIP all started. Now it is a small, one stop light, farming community with a beautiful museum downtown chronicling the township’s history. I have become close friends with Susie Root Moore, granddaughter of SIP’s founder, Percy Root. She and her brother, Steve, gave me exclusive and unfettered access to the museum and many of the archived photos. Her dad, Tom Root, was a very good professional photographer and took most of the publicity photos for FRH (Fate Root Heath) including those for the Grinder Division.

The purpose of my trip was to get as much information as possible to create a history of SIP display for the Orlando GCSAA show. One example of what I have are these models of the Silver King/Plymouth tractors made by FRH. They were an innovative small farm tractor made in the 1920s and 1930s. It was the first tractor with pneumatic tires and had a top speed of 35 mph. This made it practical to drive on the roads so the farmer only needed one vehicle. I hope you find this interesting enough to come by our booth 1214 and learn the rest of our long history.