Mason: Tractor company adds Blue Ridge facility
A family owned business legacy that spans 84 years and four generations continues to call Fannin County home by sinking its roots even deeper into the local community.
Bill Mason Jr., and his wife, Tammie, owners of Mason Tractor Company (MTC), have signed a 36-month lease with the Fannin County Development Authority (FCDA) for the Whitepath Fabtech building in Blue Ridge.
Erick Youngberg, executive director of the FCDA, said the facility will house MTC’s delivery, assembly and re-distribution for the company’s eight stores.
Mason said “most all” incoming equipment will now be shipped into Blue Ridge. “With all the growth we’ve had, that’s what led us to realize that we needed another, separate facility that can serve as a distribution and assembly facility for all eight stores.
“We feel we can better control our inventory and trucking” from the central location, Mason said.
“We wanted to be in Blue Ridge. We wanted to be here at home,” Mason said.
Youngberg said MTC will occupy most of the building with the exception of the front offices that will be rehabilitated for extra rental income for the FCDA.
The dock door will be expanded, electrical upgrades will be completed, and a fence will installed around the property by the FCDA.
Mason and Youngberg both said that if this new idea for Mason Tractor Company is successful, the FCDA will consider building a new, larger structure for MTC at the end of the lease.
Mason Tractor Company was founded in Fannin County in 1940 by C.F. (Coote) Mason in the Epworth Community. In 1958, he moved the business to downtown Blue Ridge. At the same time, C.W. (Junior) Mason returned from Atlanta and went into business with Coote.
Junior basically purchased into and took over the business alone with his wife, Margaret, in the 1960’s. They grew the business and expanded the product lines in the Blue Ridge store.
In 1980, Bill Mason Jr., returned from school and went to work for Coote and Junior until 1998. That’s when Bill Jr., and his wife, Tammie, purchased the company from Coote, Junior and Margaret. At the same time, they built a new facility on 515 south of Blue Ridge and relocated the business.
Since 1998, Mason Tactor Company has not only grown the Blue Ridge store to be the largest Kubota Tractor Dealer in Georgia, but has also expanded to eight stores, becoming the third largest Kubota dealer in the United States.
Mason said, “As of now, we have eight locations here in Georgia ranging from two stores here in North Georgia, four in Metro Atlanta and two in Middle/South Georgia.”
Both of Bill Jr.’s, and Tammie’s children have come back to the business after college, making four generations of the Mason family in the tractor and equipment business here in Fannin County.
“At this time we employee over 180 of the finest people and feel before the end of 2024 we will probably be around 200,” Mason said.