Ferris Industries, established as the Uebler Milking Machine Company in 1909, served local New York dairy farmers until the mid-1980s when Dave Ferris suspected that the company's profits were going to disappear along with the area's dairy farmers. Thus Ferris introduced (and patented) the first hydrostatically driven walk-behind mower, breaking away from the traditional belt driven. 

Eleven years later, in 1998, Ferris introduced another first--independent suspension. Ferris's IS line pushed the mowers into a new age of invention yet again.

Passing through the hands of Simplicity and Briggs & Stratton in the following years, Ferris has expanded its market, providing mowers for homeowners and professional users, large properties and smaller ones, as well as walk-behinds, zero-turn riding, and beyond.