Keck Gonnerman wheat separator. Keck-Gonnerman was headquartered in Mt. Vernon and manufactured, sold, and serviced mobile steam engines and grain threshers; it was located at 4th St. and Pearl St. It was in operation 1873-1955. The Keck-Gonnerman Company has its roots in the Woody and Keck blacksmith shop in Posey County, Indiana, with John Keck and John C. Woody operating the business as partners. By 1880 Mr. Woody retired and sold his interest to John Onk of Louisville, Kentucky. The firm, now called Keck and Onk, prepared to make hollowware, but this ended when Mr. Onk sold his interest in the firm and returned to Louisville. William Gonnerman and Henry Kuebler joined John Keck as business partners. By 1884 the company name was changed to Keck-Gonnerman and they produced their first steam engine and thresher. The next year John Keck's brother, Louis H. Keck, joined the firm, buying out Mr. Kuebler's interest in the company. The Keck-Gonnerman Company produced steam engines, threshing equipment as well as mining equipment and sawmills under the Kay-Gee trademark. The company employed over 300 people in Mt. Vernon, Indiana, and their products were used as far away California, Canada, and Cuba. Over the years Keck-Gonnerman developed their product line. They built their first two-cylinder kerosene tractor in 1918, and by 1928 they began to sell four-cylinder tractors. Two years later they built their last Kay-Gee steam engine. Their thresher line kept pace with tractor development with the first tractor-size separator built in 1921 and the first steel frame separator built in 1926. By the early 1950s the self-propelled combine came on the market. In 1953 the Keck-Gonnerman Company was sold to two engineers from California, Harrison and Spenser, who hoped to manufacture new farm equipment. Two years later the company closed its doors. (http://cygnuschronicles.wikidot.com/tcotw:keck-gonnerman-co)