Yes, they were built at the David Bradley factory in Bradley IL, which adjoins Kankakee IL. The town was named after the company. There are a lot of the DB garden tractor collections in this area because there were so many retirees from the factory that loved to preserve the history. The best show was (until recently) "Thee Olde Time Farm Show" in Bourbonnais, IL, which also adjoins Bradley IL. There were usually 20-30+ DB garden tractors at the show, plus plenty of flea market vendors with their parts.

I worked @ the factory from '66 to '68 building garden tractors, but by then Sears had dropped the DB brand and Roper Corp bought the factory & we built the garden tractors for Sears, and a few other outlets. Most that I built had Sears emblems, but they also sold some Roper models. I assume those went to non-Sears stores. The pay was BIG money in '68. We were making $3.75/hr on the assy line. $4.25 with OT. Strangely enough, we were in the Aerospace Workers Union. I could never figure that one out. The union was like being drafted....you really didn't have much choice.

Last photo is an unrestored example of the 10hp model I might've helped assemble. I was the "engine man". We'd crank out 120 or so tractors per day of the large frame type. The smaller frame (8 hp) was fewer than 100 per day.

Anyway, David Bradley is good local history.