We spent the first two days of this year's celebration of Oliver equipment in our air conditioned cave, and with good reason. We are much too old to be out and about in this August's weather offerings. Saturday morning, though, the sky was occluded, the temperature was
lovely and I went to the doings. I strolled leisurely through the
grounds marveling at the ingenuity of our species.
The first set of machinery that caught my eye was a display of
single-cylinder yard and utility tractors. It appears as though these
little monsters could handle a wide variety of chores, up to and including sawing up fallen timber.
Where this collector found the paint for this beauty I know not, but it certainly made the machine a standout in the crowd.
The featured make this year is the Oliver. An old Oliver was the first (and only) tractor that I drove in actual farm work, turning the soil following the wheat harvest in Liberal, Kansas in 1952. Mr. Rohrer had a big hit-and-miss John Deere as well, and my friend Wes was assigned to it.
The Oliver Chilled Plow Company operated out of South Bend, Indiana and had factories in other locales. The company was purchased by White in 1960. White manufactured tractors under the Oliver name, and under the Cockshutt, Minneapolis, and White names as well. The Oliver 2255 also sold as the White 2255 was the last Oliver tractor. From 1974 the company used the White brand only.
This event is held at the Tipton County Fairgrounds each August. I have attended for several years and enjoy it every time, marveling at the machinery and talking to the old guys and gals who love their equipment.
5 comments:
I think I've mentioned before that my dad worked for Oliver's in South Bend. (That's how we said things like that up north: always in the possessive. Or even worse, we often would say that he worked "over to Oliver's.")
Even though White owned the company the whole time he worked there, it wasn't until the Oliver brand gave way to the White brand that the company began to destabilize and layoffs started happening. The layoff years were particularly unhappy. And then the plant closed, and that was that.
You know me I LOVE farm equipment and that fuschia one is da bomb!
Jim, thought of you as I visited the show and as I posted this. I understand the lingo-- in Southern Indiana folk said, "He works over to Colgate's."
Grace, isn't that machine striking? There are so many examples of man's ingenuity but agricultural equipment never ceases to fascinate me.
Need something for the ladies. I'm sure that is what the owner of the pink machine was thinking.
Vee, you would be surprised at the number of jeans-clad women at the show, both exhibitors and spectators.
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