Joseph Oppenheim of Maria Stein, Ohio was the inventor of the first modern 'widespreading' manure spreader and is honored as such in the Ohio Agricultural Hall of Fame. Originally manure was thrown from a wagon. Later, “manure unloaders” used a drag chain at the bottom of the wagon to pull the load of manure to the rear where it was shredded by a pair of beaters. Because the unloaders deposited manure directly behind the wagon but with very little spreading to the sides, farmers still had to take the time-consuming step of heading into the fields with peg-tooth drags or similar implements to spread the manure in order to prevent burning the soil.