The last weekend in August is the Annual Tri-State Gas Engine and Tractor Association Show in Portland, Indiana. This years featured tractor was the Oliver Hart-Parr. Olivers, as far as the eye can see..
..an older Hart-Parr and the all-time favorite 'lavendar 1850'.
In the 1850's, in Battle Creek, Michigan, John Nichols built his first threshing machine with David Shepard as a partner. The Nichols-Shepard Co. produced steam traction engines and a 35-70 H.P. "Oil Gas" tractor. In 1855, James Oliver, a farmer, bought one-quarter interest in an iron foundry in South Bend, Indiana, which built plows and tillage tools. Dissatisfied with the quality of plows, he developed a much lighter chilled moldboard plow. In 1868, he built the Oliver Chilled Plow Works at South Bend in order to build his invention. The Hart-Parr Co. of Charles City, Iowa, was founded in 1897 to build stationary engines. Their first tractor, a 17-30 H.P.2-cylinder, 4-cycle engine, was the first production tractor built. Hart-Parr is known as father of the tractor industry. The American Seeding Co., Springfield, Ohio, was formed in 1903 by a merger of several drill companies, specializing in seeding equipment. The Oliver Farm Equipment Co. was formed in April, 1929, when these four companies joined together. The new company was a diversified farm machinery company, best known for its advanced developments in tractor building. In 1944, the name was changed to Oliver Corp. In 1960, Oliver was purchased by White Motor Corp. making tractors and equipment under the Oliver name until 1976. The name was then changed to White Farm Equipment.
Then on to the John Deere tractors...80, 70, 60, 50 and model 40 all in a row. In the background is the Gravely Headquarters. 
Not only was there a surprisingly big display of Gravely implements, but also a large area was set aside for Gravely tractor demonstrations and competitions.
John Deere 3010's, both with wide front ends, with consecutive serial numbers...
# posted by Martha @ 3:00 PM
