John Deere Collectors Fill Home

By Leslie C. Mcdaniel
Published on September 1, 1999
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Jack and Carol Davidson and their most recent restoration: a 1949 G tractor.
Jack and Carol Davidson and their most recent restoration: a 1949 G tractor.
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"It's almost as easy as dialing a phone": promotional piece for power steering.
"It's almost as easy as dialing a phone": promotional piece for power steering.
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The Davidson's fleet of the ill-fated lawn and garden line. The couple's son's sign collection covers the walls, but "99.9 percent of what we have is green," Jack Davidson says. The collection fills the Davidson home, displacing furniture in some rooms.
The Davidson's fleet of the ill-fated lawn and garden line. The couple's son's sign collection covers the walls, but "99.9 percent of what we have is green," Jack Davidson says. The collection fills the Davidson home, displacing furniture in some rooms.
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A 1941 H (minus its fenders, which have been removed for restoration): the Davidsons' next restoration project.
A 1941 H (minus its fenders, which have been removed for restoration): the Davidsons' next restoration project.
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A 1936 B: one of the two tractors that started the Davidson collection.
A 1936 B: one of the two tractors that started the Davidson collection.

When Dorothy clicked her heels together and said “There’s no place like home,” she had Kansas on her mind. But she might just as well been thinking of Jack and Carol Davidson, and their home in Anderson, Ind.

The Davidsons are avid John Deere collectors. That in itself is not unique. But the fact that they’ve given over their home to their collection is.

“We’ve been collecting for about 20 years,” Jack says. “It started when I bought two tractors from my neighbor: two model B’s: a 1936, and a 1938. I had been working at Ford, and farming the family farm, and I didn’t have a lot of time for collecting. I’d just buy stuff, and stow it away. But when our son and daughter grew up and left home, we kind of looked at it again.”

That “look” resulted in emptying three full rooms – two bedrooms and the living room – of all their furnishings, filling them instead with an extensive display of John Deere memorabilia.

“After I retired five or six years ago, we gave away a lot of the furniture except for what was in the family room and kitchen,” Jack says. “We brought out all the toys and displays, and made our home a mini-museum of John Deere stuff. The living room literally has no furniture in it except for a John Deere bench.”

It’s only natural that the John Deere collection should spill into the family room as well. Throughout the house, there are lamps and paintings in a Deere theme; even the kitchen sports JD wallpaper and coordinating paint.

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