Tractor and Equipment Company Endowed Scholarship

Since its beginning as a Caterpillar Dealer in 1929, Tractor & Equipment Co. (T&E) has grown from a farm machinery dealership in the rear half of a blacksmith’s shop in Sidney, Montana, to a multi-store operation servicing portions of Montana, North Dakota, and Wyoming. J.J. Niehenke was the company founder and the President and General Manager of T&E through its beginning years. Advancing with the times, Caterpillar expanded into heavy construction equipment, which was used in road construction, dam building, land leveling and road maintenance. T&E’s markets now include agricultural, governmental, and highway construction. T&E has provided annual scholarship funding to students at MSU Billings since 1982-1983. In 2002, when Dean Blackford, great-grandson of the founder, became General Manager of Tractor and Equipment Co., T&E made a $25,000 3-year pledge during the People, Pride and Promise Campaign for Excellence to establish the Tractor and Equipment Company Endowed Scholarship fund. The first scholarship funded by the endowment was awarded in academic year 2007-2008.