Roanoke, Ill. — Ever since Sam Martin founded a John Deere tractor dealership in Roanoke, Ill., in 1926, two names have held strong — Martin and John Deere. 95 years later, Martin Sullivan is returning to their roots and rebranding from Martin Sullivan to Martin, effective Jan. 1, 2021.

The John Deere dealership in Roanoke, Ill., was started in 1926 by 4th generation owner Ben Rogers’ great grandfather, Sam Martin. Sam then brought on his five sons and named the business Martin Brothers. Ben’s grandfather, Lewis Martin Sr, was a second-generation owner with only one location. Lewis Sr then sold the business to his son, Lewis Martin Jr who expanded it to 4 locations. In 1996, Lewis Jr sold the business to Ben and his parents, Gary and Karen Rogers. At that point, they went from 4 locations to 5, to 6 and then 7. In 2014, they acquired 6 more locations that increased the footprint to 13 locations in 19 Illinois counties and 1 Missouri county.

“Our philosophy over the years really started with my great grandfather, Sam, and grandfather, Lewis,” says Ben Rogers. “Just have inventory; have it here to sell to the customers rather than sell it out of the catalog.”

“All 250 employees have a major impact with Martins. Our number one goal is to make sure our customers are taken care of. If any one of our employees can do that and limit customer downtime and increase customer efficiency and profitability, that is priceless,” Ben adds.

One major update Martins wants to bring to their customers’ attention is their website URL will be changing from MARTINSULLIVAN.COM to MARTINJD.COM effective Jan. 1st. 

“Our goal is to be the best and we feel like we sell the best,” Ben states.

The owners of Martins want their customers to know that with the rebrand, nothing is going to change with their service to you. They will still be your consistent, trusted resource for John Deere tractors, combines and other home and agricultural equipment in Central and Western Illinois.