The Berchtold Equipment Company, a third-generation family-owned farm equipment seller with a location in Santa Maria, is celebrating its centennial this year.
Joseph Berchtold, a former miner and inventor from Dubuque, Iowa, started the company in Bakersfield as a feed-and-seed store in 1910. Joseph’s son E.G (Berch) Berchtold took over the company following his father’s death. The company was passed on to Berch’s four children—Steve, Mark, Jeff, and Marcia—in 2008, and is now run by Mark and Berch’s wife Frankie.
Berchtold has undergone four or five remodels, opened stores in Delano and Santa Maria, and has sold everything from tractors to O-rings. Their Santa Maria shop is located at 1410 W. Betteravia Road.
For more information, call 922-7905.
This article appears in Oct 14-21, 2010.