The story
History
The company Anton Schlüter München was founded in 1899, by councillor of commerce (German: Kommerzienrat) Anton Schlüter. In the beginning, the primary corporate objective was the production of gasoline engines and multi-fuel engines. Twelve years after the company founding, Anton Schlüter acquired his own foundry. It was located in Freising, a town near Munich. In 1910, new buildings were constructed by the architects Jakob Heilmann and Max Littmann.A year later, Schlüter built a test area, the so-called Schlüterhof.
Shutdown of the establishment
In December 1993, Schlüter finished its production at the plant in Freising except the Euro Trac series. Thereafter, another company showed interest in the Euro Trac. Landtechnik Schönebeck, a manufacturer of agricultural machinery in the former German Democratic Republic, the Euro Trac was produced in Eastern Germany. Even there, only 32 Euro Trac were built. Then, another company took over the Euro Trac from Landtechnik Schönebeck: Until 2004, some more Euro Trac were produced by Egelseer, located in Fürth (a town close to Nuremberg). Today, the Egelseer company is the general supplier of spare parts and also an advisor in any technical matters in regards to Schlüter tractors.
The closed factory facilities of Schlüter in Freising were unused for more than ten years. Because of its age and its former significance, the former Schlüter buildings were declared a cultural heritage.
The hangars were renovated and changed in their purpose. Nowadays they are used as a shopping mall. There, a Schlüter tractor holds place as a reminding monument of the former utilization of the buildings.
Anton Schlüter himself died in summer of the year 1999. Up to the present, there is a large number of Schlüter fan clubs in Germany and other countries. They pay tribute to the Schlüter brand, to its remarkable history and to the tractors of Schlüter. One of the activities of these clubs is the arrangement of reunion events. Furthermore, many Schlüter tractors enjoy a high appreciation by their fans. Nowadays, a large number of the remaining tractors are regarded as individually valuable and are repaired and maintained very well.
From Wikipedia’s article on Anton Schlüter München, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3