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International Harvester Museum Expands Collection and Completes Major Renovations
By: Lisa Z. Leighton
Previously printed in Lancaster Farming; reprinted with permission by the author.
MILLVILLE, Pa. - In the summer of 2010, the International Harvester Collectors (IHC) Chapter 17 took ownership of the Bartlow prototype International Harvester (IH) dealership building, located at 47 South Chestnut Street in Millville, PA.
Since then, the Chapter’s 270 members have worked tirelessly to raise funds to pay off the mortgage, while also completing necessary renovations to the electrical system, windows, pylon and roof of the historic 1947 building, as well as enhancements such as a library.
The Museum, which has open hours every Saturday from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. from May through October, houses International Harvester tractors and equipment, farming implements, refrigeration, memorabilia and much more.
Ben Trapani, President of Chapter 17 said, “A lot of people think IH just made the Farmall H, but they made a lot of other things.”
Trapani is referring to the other items that the Museum has on display including an 1831 reaper, an IH Scout vehicle, a Daisy Reaper from the early 1900s, a 1962 dozer used in IH’s Melrose Park factory, refrigeration units, as well as case after case of IH memorabilia – all in addition to dozens of red tractors.
The Museum also houses the first Cub Cadet sold by the Bartlow dealership, which sold for $695 in 1961 and Tracto the “talking” robot assembled from 227 standard production tractor and implement parts used in conjunction with the company’s Farmall 560 tractor.
Agricultural Treasures on Display
Several of the items on display were donated as long-term leases by Navistar, an American holding company created in 1986 as the successor to International Harvester. Navistar operates as the owner of International brand of trucks and diesel engines.
A few of the Museum’s showpieces include:
1831 Reaper: According to Trapani, Navistar donated three 1830s reapers to the IH Museum, one of which is assembled. Trapani said the date is known to be between 1831 and 1834 because of a change made to the design in 1834 when the machine was patented.
Trapani said of the reaper, “This is the machine that started International Harvester – without this machine, the company probably would have never been. It’s that simple. They claim without this machine we would have all starved to death during the Civil War because it took so much manpower to harvest a field of wheat. Two guys would pull it with a horse and rake the stuff into a pile. This was the beginning of mechanized farming.
The reaper was assembled this past winter by Trapani and fellow Club member Jim Ulrich.
“We were like two kids in a candy store,” said Trapani grinning from ear to ear.
He continued, “I put a message on Facebook about putting this erector set together and Guy Fay [who is part of the corporate Archives in Madison, Wisconsin] responded. He told me that in 1931 they called it the ‘Century of the Reaper: 1831-1931’. Apparently they made a big deal of this. They made several hundred reproductions of the reapers in 1931 for the festivities. That’s what we thought we were getting. We found out we got originals. Nobody really knew what was in the crates. But Guy told me that in 1931, they sent the boxes to their distribution centers to put them together and display. They made an instruction sheet. He told me to reach out to Lee Grady [former McCormick-International Harvester Collection Archivist in Madison]. I texted Lee around lunch time and by dinner time I had the instruction sheet.”
Daisy Reaper: Another long-term lease, the IH Museum acquired the Daisy Reaper, which dates to the early 1900s, about four years ago. The piece came from the McCormick Farm in Steeles Tavern, VA and was given to Virginia Tech, according to Trapani.
He said, “A friend of mine, Larry Kerns, wanted to do something in memory of his father who was an International [Harvester] restorer; so he took this project on himself. This was one of first steps in harvesting grains. You could use that in the field, it’s ready to go.”
1962 Dozer: Donated by Navistar, the 1962 dozer was used in the Melrose Park factory and features an IH property number on the side. Its rubber tracks are made to push and pull heavy items on concrete floors.
Trapani admits that the dozer is one of his favorite pieces, “Most of the tractors that are here, you can drive down the road and see them, but a piece like this is really unique.”
He said the dozer has very few hours on it and purrs like a cat when operating.
Refrigeration Units: IH also made appliances for the home, specifically refrigeration products such as air conditioners, refrigerators, freezers and dehumidifiers. The Museum has more than a dozen on display, including an air conditioner that was bought at the Bartlow dealership brand new in 1953. Last summer, the Museum acquired IH’s “one millionth refrigeration product” which features a plaque that says, “Evansville Works January 1952.” The item is on permanent lease from Navistar.
Trapani recalled, “It was in Missouri; one of the people in the National organization found it and took it home and painted it; it was painted green. It was in the one of the lunch rooms at Navistar’s plant where they built the trucks. They reached out about bringing it here.”
Tracto: Tracto the “talking” robot measures eight feet tall and was introduced by IH in July 1960 for county fairs. Tracto is assembled from 227 tractor and implement parts and its predecessor was Harvey Harvester, which didn’t move like Tracto. Tracto was owned by the Mr. Darryl and Mrs. Kevin Darst. Mrs. Darst approached the club about ownership when her husband passed away shortly after the Red Power Roundup in 2019. Tracto travels too: the IH Chapter plans to take it to the Ohio Roundup in late June.
A sign near Tracto states, “International Harvester’s district office personnel had a hand in delighting fairgoers by manning the robot’s amplification system for conversation. When Tracto spoke with fairgoers his eyes lit up and his head and right arm would move. A Ford dealership bought this Tracto from the IH company auction in the 1970s. They painted Tracto Ford blue and stored him outside. Tracto has been fully restored to his former glory.”
Financing Building Improvements
Purchased by the Chapter for $155,000 in summer of 2010 they needed to raise almost twice that amount of money to do some much-needed repairs and renovations to the building — like bringing the electrical system up to code and replacing the pitched metal roof with a flat one, like when the dealership was first built in the 1940s.
Over the years, the Chapter has hosted three IH Red Power Roundups at the nearby Bloomsburg Fairgrounds and each has proven to be excellent revenue sources.
On June 8, 2020, the Chapter made their final mortgage payment.
The Chapter’s 270 members (254 in PA, 4 in NJ, 10 in NY, 1 in MD and 1 in OH) have worked together to raise the money needed for the building’s purchase and approximately $106,000 for building repairs from 2010 through 2021 including window projects, heating, electrical and a roof.
Shirley Bordner, the Chapter’s Treasurer said, “We have received donations from generous club members and National IHC members from all over the United States and Canada, as well as numerous IHC Chapters and donations at our IH Museum from anonymous individuals from 2008 through 2021.”
According to Bordner, the Chapter has also received a $10,000 grant two times from their local tourism agency, Columbia-Montour Visitors Bureau, to advertise the 2007 and 2019 Red Power Roundups.
Trapani said of the renovations, “Everything we’ve done so far, except for odds and ends, we’re tried to keep it the way it was in 1947.”
He continued, “We were really lucky that this building was never turned into anything else like a pizza shop, and that stuff wasn’t thrown out.”
Ten Years of Renovations
In addition to expanding the Museum’s collection over the past decade, IHC Chapter 17 members have been busy fundraising to maintain and renovate the 1947 building.
The building’s appearance is unique in that the International Harvester Corporation began the process of creating a uniform appearance for its dealerships following World War II so that the public would instantly recognize any IH dealership.
The Chapter updated the electrical system over ten years and replaced the building’s massive roof, which covers the showroom and shop area.
They also created a unique plexiglass storm window system over the building’s front windows to protect them from weather.
In 2019, members noticed that some of the windows above and between the showroom and the shop area were in need of replacement, but they didn’t have the necessary funds since they were concurrently planning the Red Power Roundup.
Trapani recalled that they sent a letter to all of the members explaining the project, which was estimated at $15,000. While they were hopeful of raising half of the funds, they received a few hundred dollars more than the project’s total cost.
“I was flabbergasted. That was really something. This Harvester thing is something you grew up with, the members want to be a part of saving this,” Trapani said.
Another large undertaking was restoring the pylon on the front of the building. The Chapter partnered with students at Columbia-Montour Area Vocational Technical School. Students removed the porcelain tiles from the chimney surface, then sandblasted, repainted, and reinstalled them.
Trapani said that while the porcelain probably could have lasted longer, the IH dealership burned coal as a heat source and over the years the coal soot ate away at the porcelain.
He said, “We’re lucky we took the chimney apart because it was deteriorated underneath. The kids did a nice job and the project enlisted the help of three trades [at the School] – the body shop did the painting, the carpenters did the work at the building, and the welders built the cover for it so it would be sealed off to keep the water out and they built a cover for the top.”
The most recent project, largely led by Chapter volunteers, is a library and small meeting room that houses a conference table, chairs and bookshelves.
“A lot of people collect a lot of stuff, but not many people have the opportunity to go in and look at it and that’s what we wanted the library for, so people can look at the pamphlets that were produced back in the ‘40s, ‘50s and ‘60s. I hope people take advantage of it; it’s a unique thing,” Trapani said.
Through all of the fundraising and building renovations, Trapani says the members feel fortunate because they are one of the only IH Chapters in the country that has a space like this.
“This has been quite an undertaking, it takes a lot of effort on a lot of people’s parts to make this work,” he said.
IHC Chapter 17 is always seeking new members; they host six general membership meetings a year and a fall festival.
For more information about the Chapter and the Museum, visit IHCC17.org or contact one of the Officers by phone, as listed on their website.