Rumely Pulls Again

Enlarge Image Image Gallery Jamie StevensonRumely five-bottom plow

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I took 150 years, but it was worth the wait. That's what folks who collect M. Rumely Co. farm equipment say about the biggest gathering of Rumely-built machinery and memorabilia since the company quit business in 1938.

The reunion was held in conjunction with the 59th National Threshers Association Reunion June 26-29, 2003, in Wauseon, Ohio. The gathering drew Rumely collectors from across the globe to share memories and machines made by the Indiana-based company.

'There was one of everything here,' Dennis Rupert, president of the Rumely Products Collectors, says about the reunion.

The club, which boasts nearly 200 members, paired its Rumely reunion with the National Threshers' annual farm show because it's one of the oldest shows in America and is closely located to LaPorte, Ind., where Meinrad Rumely built his farm equipment empire, Dennis says.

The event coincided with the company's founding 150 years before in 1853. Coincidentally, exactly 150 Rumely exhibitors brought everything from steam traction engines to clover hullers, OilPull tractors to stationary gasoline engines - all bearing the famous Rumely name.

'It makes us darn proud to have such a big turnout,' Dennis adds about the history-making reunion.

Rumely on parade

The four-day show was a chance to see more Rumely-associated products in one place since the company's goods were in full production decades before. Show-goers and collectors came from far and wide to see the equipment -much of it one of a kind.

Displays included the oldest known Rumely-made machine - an 1885 8-hp horse-drawn steam engine owned by Graham Sellers, Coldwater, Mich. - and equipment produced before the company folded, like a 1931 Advance-Rumely Co. Model 6A tractor owned by Zac Broughman, Pittsford, Mich.

Another unusual offering was a 1921 Rumely Line Drive tractor, serial no. 506, owned by Jim Ertl, Canandaigua, N.Y. The unique, hand-cranked machine looked more like a riding plow than a traditional farm tractor, with leather reins that extended well behind the gray- and red-painted steel wheels.

Other exhibitors showed difficult-to-find Rumely machinery and implements, such as a 1904 Rumely clover huller owned by Dennis and Sally Anspaugh, Osseo, Mich., and a 1919 Rumely Model H 16-30 tractor paired with a five-bottom Rumely-built plow owned by Jamie Stevenson of Whitewater, Wis.

Besides Rumely equipment, visitors could meet actual Rumely family members who turned out for the historic occasion. At least 10 people who directly trace their lineage from Meinrad were present, including Paul and John Rumely and Fran (Rumely) Jones, three of Meinrad's great-grandchildren.

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