The Toro Company turns 100

On Thursday, July 10, The Toro Company looked back on a century's worth of farm and ranch innovations during its 100th anniversary celebration.

More than 2,000 employees, retirees, partners and guests came to the company headquarters in Bloomington, Minnesota, including Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton and Bloomington Mayor Gene Winstead.

“As we celebrate our first 100 years, it was truly gratifying to be surrounded by many of those who played such a significant role in the company’s success,” said chairman and CEO Michael Hoffman. “We are honored to have such talented employees around the world and individuals who have served the company throughout our history, along with great channel and business partners, who work every day to serve our customers and help advance our efforts in the industry. And, I especially want to thank Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton and Bloomington Mayor Gene Winstead for joining our centennial celebration and honoring the people of Toro.”

Dayton also took the stage to announce that the day would be known as "Toro Day" across Minnesota.

“Part of the mentality of Toro is reaching out to its customers and to the communities, and developing high-quality products while strengthening your market through innovation,” said Governor Dayton. “I don’t think that the founder could have imagined 100 years ago that Toro would grow to be a Fortune 1000 company, or that more importantly, you’d be a leading corporate citizen in Minnesota. Your contributions to this state have been enormous.”

Also at the event was a new display telling the story of Toro's history, which included various vintage products (the first Toro-branded piece of equipment among them).

Toro has been celebrating its centennial for the entirety of the year, part of which has included a '100 Acts of Caring' initiative wherein employees planted 100 trees in each Toro community across the world.