A HappeningWalking in J.I. Case’s Footsteps

half-hour’s drive north of Racine, which is Case
‘Mecca.’ That’s where J.I. started his company almost
150 years ago and also where admirers of the man and the line of
equipment he founded like to visit.

Harry Kline, on ground, second from left, and Lloyd
‘Smitty’ Smith admire the birds they’ve just delivered
to Oak Creek.

In the winter of 1988-89, the Case Heritage Foundation, which
always has enjoyed excellent cooperative relationships with a
number of members and branches of the EDGE&TA, contacted Branch
10 to see if a joint effort involving the Foundation could be
worked out that would expand the two-day gas engine and tractor
show into a special three-day program, taking advantage of the
show’s proximity to Case sights-to-be-seen in Racine and
Rochester (where J.I. developed his early improvements for the
groundhog thresher). The plan was also to attract a special
exhibition of Case equipment to the show grounds from the
region.

Dale Noel’s ¹/₃-scale model with
matching Case threshing machine is loaded for the trio home to West
Salem, WI after a busy weekend at Oak Creek.

Branch 10 president, Don Esch, and the Branch 10 leaders liked
the idea, ‘a happening’ was about to occur. It could not
have turned out as happily as it did if there had been anything
less than the 100 percent cooperation, helpfulness and friendliness
which characterized the Host Committee, including Don, Rory and
Randy Esch; Barbara and Roger Fink, Roy Holler, Jeff Jablonski,
Mike and Gerry Popp, Dave Chvilicek, and Diane Juarez. Gerry Popp
did such an exceptional job with the grounds layout (putting a big
and varied show in limited space) and the preparation of exhibitor
stakes, while Roger and Barbara Fink were totally helpful in
preparations for the historical tour and pitched in wherever needed
throughout the weekend. Rory Esch handled exhibitor registration
and the parade line-up like a real pro. Since Branch 10’s
annual show has not normally included steam engines and related
exhibits, Foundation Charter member, Fred Reckelberg of Lutemberg,
Wisconsin, who might properly be called ‘Mr. Steam’ in
Wisconsin and maybe ‘Mr. Sawmill,’ too, was called to the
rescue. He agreed to bring his mill and all of the trimmings,
including a large and experienced crew that includes his sons and
many of Fred’s friends, while also helping to round up plenty
of Case steam engines, big and little (80 HP all the way down to
1′ scale), as well as a wonderful 1914 20-40 Case tractor, as
the essential ingredients for a first class steam and ag-heritage
demonstration running in conjunction with Branch 10’s normally
outstanding gas engine and tractor show.

In addition, two important major attractions Stan and Katy
Sill’s 1924 Model X Roadster from Rockford, Ohio, and the Case
No. 25 engine from Sauder Farm and Craft Village at Archbold,
Ohio-came to the show. And, even Lester Pierce of Stanberry,
Missouri decided to bring his wooden replica of an 1880s Case
engine smokebox door. Lester’s exhibit has been to every Case
Heritage Expo since the event was started in 1987, so his presence
could be considered not just a fine display but a good luck charm
for the Oak Creek event.

Mahlon Defter, restoration engineer for Sauder Farm and Craft
Village of Archbold, OH, explains operation of Case portable engine
No. 25 (1870), oldest Case engine still active.

The event planning was not without a few glitches, all overcome.
For instance, the Foundation worked out a full-day
historical/facility bus tour of Racine and Rochester that was to
include several stops at some of J.I. Case Company’s points of
interest. Just a few days before the tour was scheduled, with about
250 people signed up in advance some visitation schedules had to be
modified to suit late-developing Company operating requirements. It
was only by the grace of God and the magnificent help of Harold
Solberg, a long-time manager at Case (and a Foundation member, too)
who helped reorganize the schedule, that pieces were put back
together in time for the scheduled start on Friday morning, June
22. Fortunately, the Racine County Museum, Mound Cemetery,
volunteer tour guides and others involved in the itinerary were
willing to adjust to the changes, and they did so without
complaint. The museum, through its Director, Mary Ellen Conway, was
able to arrange to have space across the street from the Museum
made available by the Racine County Government for the display of
the Sill’s Case roadster and Sauder Farm’s No. 25 engine
for a special ‘coming home’ exhibition in downtown Racine
during the Friday before the weekend show at Oak Creek. The museum
also arranged a special Case exhibit in its lobby that featured the
J.I. Case racing stable and its most famous horse, Jay Eye See.

Foundation Charter Member, Gerry Karwowski, a Case Company
staffer who also is a student (we probably should call him ‘the
professor”) of Racine County history devoted several days
of his vacation time to assisting with the historical tour,
briefing tour guides and participating in the weekend exhibition.
Dorothy Osborne, a long-time resident of Racine County who deserves
the title ‘Dean of Racine History,’ also provided
well-organized information about sites related to J.I. Case family
and company history that was invaluable to setting up the tour
sequence.

Bright and early on Friday morning, in the pouring down rain,
all 250 ‘tourists’ assembled under and around the Case
Heritage tent at the Oak Creek showgrounds before boarding six
buses for the all-day tour. In spite of the heavy downpours of rain
for much of the day, the ‘tourists’ made their appointed
rounds, including a stop at the J.I. Case headquarters offices,
ride-bys of historic homesites and other Case-related structures,
and visits to Mound Cemetery (where J.I. Case and other well-known
early leaders of the Case Company are buried), the Case
Company’s Parts Distribution Center and finishing up in late
afternoon at Rochester to see where J.I. Case first settled in
Wisconsin and ride-by the house where he worked on the improvement
of the Groundhog Thresher.

The tour was just a preliminary for the EDGE&TA National
Show and Case Heritage Exhibition that went into full swing on
Saturday morning and lasted through Sunday. Not only did
EDGE&TA members and families from as far away as California,
Kansas and Oregon attend, but many Foundation members and other
admirers of J.I. Case and the Case line of equipment gravitated to
the event. Many of them came from the local communities surrounding
Oak Creek.

The weather cleared out to blue skies on Friday afternoon and
stayed that way through the weekend. On Friday evening, people
working to get ready for the following day saw a miracle coming
down the road in front of the Oak Creek showgrounds. There was a
big flatbed trailer, steered by a veteran Case Power and Equipment
Driver, Lloyd ‘Smitty’ Smith of Kenosha, moving along the
highway with a load of ninecount ’em, nine!freshly and
beautifully painted Case Dealer Eagles. The gatherer of those
Eagles, which were unloaded at the show site and spent the weekend,
was Harry E. Kline, everybody’s favorite Caseman, the
‘mechanic’s mechanic.’ Those nine Eagles now stand as
the current record for a single show; Harry had single-handedly
topped Expo #3’s record of eight Eagles by one. Harry was not
finished either; because, before all of the hauling was over, he
and Smitty had further decorated the site with several tractors,
including a 1923 15-27, a 1916 10-18 and a 1935 CC, plus a big
dealer sign and some other pieces of vintage Case. In addition,
David R. Reiter, J.I. Case Company’s representative in eastern
Wisconsin, arranged for the delivery and placement of several
pieces of the current Case-IH linetractors and a combineat the show
gate. They formed an imposingly modern gateway for the wonderful
world of vintage Case waiting inside for visitors to the event.

A lot of people followed in Harry’s footsteps to the Oak
Creek Show, bringing tractors, engines, models, a couple of
additional Eagles (producing a show total to 11the new record!),
including Ron Sevart’s all the way from Kansas.

People who have lived close to the center of Casedom around
Racine for so many years saw this event as an opportunity for
celebration and participation. They brought their tractors, their
engines, their threshing machines, their balers, their signs, their
old toys, their models and their old photos.

For example, Roger Lueder of Cedarburg, Wisconsin, was there
with his Case ‘Agitator’ threshing machine, which still
sports its original paint; Elmer Jacob of Oak Creek brought enough
Case tractors to stock a show of his ownL, CI, DC, DI, DCC, D, SI,
D on steel, RC and V-Standard; Doug Hebior of Union Grove put all
three of his restored Case tractors in the parade, recruiting his
dad, mom and nephew as participants; Terry Cochart from Brussels,
Wisconsin, with his recently acquired 1917 60 HP Case engine was
one of several steam drivin’ men who took turns powering the
Reckelberg’s sawmill, while Jeff Bloemers was one of several
owners of scale model Case engines (his is a half-scale of a 65 HP
engine) taking turns on Bob Duescher’s shingle mill out of
Green Bay. The Fischer brothers from Thorpe, Wisconsin, and the
Milwaukee area, were there with some outstanding scale model
engines, tractors and accessories, plus lots of good family stories
about years gone by.

Most important of all, they brought themselves to talk about
their heritage, to demonstrate old equipment and techniques, and to
educate whole families who came to learn about their heritage.

The Oak Creek event’s exhibitors and attendees, alike, were
walking ground where, almost a century and a half ago, Jerome
Increase Case would have traveled by horse and by foot, selling and
servicing the equipment he manufactured in Racine. It was a
marvelous gathering of vintage Case and admirers of the J.I. Case
traditions and the Case line of equipment. It was like a family
reunion like coming home! It was an experiencea happening!