Daniel Massey and Alanson Harris were pioneers of farm mechanization in Canada, and in 1891 their respective companies merged to form the Massey-Harris Co. While the early product line mainly consisted of harvesting equipment, by the 1910s M-H were considering entry into the tractor market. However, rather than design their own tractor from scratch, M-H opted to sell the products of other tractor manufacturers - firstly Big Bull tractors from the Bull Tractor Co. of Minneapolis and then Parrett tractors from the Parrett Tractor Co. of Chicago. It was the Parrett tractors that were the first to carry the Massey-Harris name: three models were introduced, the No.1, No.2 and No.3, featuring a four-cylinder Buda engine mounted crossways on the chassis. The No.1 was listed as a 12-25 hp model, although this figure was modified somewhat to 12-22 hp for the almost identical No.2. The 15-28 hp No.3 was very similar to the preceding two models, but saw the radiator moved from a longitudinal to transverse position and the use of a slightly larger engine. In 1928, Massey-Harris bought the J.I. Case Plow Works Co. based in Racine, Wisconsin, which gave it access to the Wallis range of tractors with their revolutionary U-frame design. These included the Wallis 12-20 and 20-30, which spawned the M-H Pacemaker, Challenger and Model 25 in the 1930s. In 1930, Massey-Harris also introduced the revolutionary "General-Purpose" (or GP) tractor, a four-wheel drive design with equal-sized wheels that was perhaps somewhat ahead of its time. A revised model was marketed from 1936, but M-H soon returned to more conventional tractor designs. The 1940s saw Massey-Harris abandon the U-frame concept altogether, and in 1953 the company merged with Ferguson to form Massey-Harris-Ferguson, with the name simplified to Massey-Ferguson in 1957.

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