Yancey Bros. Co. history

In 1918, the Holt Manufacturing Company of Peoria, IL boasted that its Model 45 tractor could do the work of, “40 mules . . . or 40 horses and countless humans.” Goodloe and Earle traveled to Peoria to ask Holt if they could represent the product in the southeastern United States.

In 1925 Holt merged with Best Tractor Co. to become the Caterpillar Tractor Company.

In 1927 the brothers split the territory with Goodloe operating the company for the 83 counties in the northern half of the state as Yancey Bros., Inc., and Earle operating out of Albany as the Yancey Tractor Company for the southern half of Georgia.

Don A. Yancey, a nephew of Goodloe, began his career in 1936 with the Yancey Tractor Co. in Albany.

In 1947, Yancey Bros., Inc. opened its first full-service product support branch in Augusta and adopted the current name of Yancey Bros.

In 1957 the company opened its second full-service product support branch in Macon.

Goodloe in 1958 with these words, “through these years, Yancey Bros.

In 1969, the company relocated to its current headquarters in Austell, four miles outside Atlanta’s I-285 perimeter highway.

In 1994, Jim Stephenson joined Yancey Bros.

Co. and became the fourth generation to serve as President and CEO. The Cat Rental Store opened in 1997 and continues to provide Caterpillar’s full line of construction and building equipment to customers with daily, weekly and monthly rental options.

In 2005, Yancey Power Systems established Yancey Engineered Solutions to provide specialized design and packaging services for CAT generators.

In 2014 Doug Oberhelman, CEO of Caterpillar, commented on Yancey’s service to Georgia by saying, “To imagine a company for 100 years, under the same ownership, with the same name, as successful as it’s been for 100 years, is nothing short of a miracle.

In January of 2019, after 23 years of leadership, Jim Stephenson retired as CEO. Upon Jim’s retirement, Trey Googe assumed leadership of the Company and the position of CEO, becoming the fifth generation to lead Yancey Bros.