The Caterpillar company has reached 100 years of providing the world with sustainable infrastructure that includes shelter, safe and drinkable water, transportation, and dependable energy. Due to the company’s remarkable impact, Caterpillar’s hometown decided to celebrate by creating a new exhibit located in the Peoria Visitors’ Center. At this exhibit, visitors can learn about the company’s history, inventions, and milestones. Here are some things that you can expect to see and use when visiting Caterpillar’s “interactive time capsule” (Berger).
The interactive time capsule gives insight on the company’s founders, C.L. Best and Benjamin Holt. Holt had a reputation as a “prolific inventor” and Best was an owner of a small machinery company (“Caterpillar | Our History”). What started off as two competing corporations, soon flourished into a merger between the two in 1925. Together they created the world’s largest producer of diesel engines (“Caterpillar | Our History”). Additionally, the advanced technology showcases the company’s accomplishments. Touch screens that contain images of their successful projects, their past and present engineers, their collaborative work with other companies, and other interesting artifacts will be on full display. In fact, one specifically shows Best’s and Holt’s patented inventions, as they had almost one hundred patents between the two of them (Berger).
In conclusion, if you are interested in the rich history of the Caterpillar company, you should visit the exhibit in the visitors’ center in downtown Peoria. This exhibit wouldn’t have been possible without the help of Lee Fosburgh, manager of Caterpillar, Inc. corporate archives (Berger). A year of gathering information, artifacts, and creating the exhibit shows how important the company of Caterpillar is to its hometown and how appreciative Peoria is to the inspirational corporation.
Sourced Cited
Berger, Alex. “Caterpillar Kicks off Centennial with New Exhibit.” CIProud.com, 9 Jan. 2025, www.centralillinoisproud.com/news/local-news/caterpillar-kicks-off-centennial-with-new-exhibit/. Accessed 23 Jan. 2025.
“Caterpillar | Our History.” Https://Www.caterpillar.com/En/Company/History/History-Timeline.html, www.caterpillar.com/en/company/history/history-timeline.html.
