Co-Chairman, Communications, Case Heritage Foundation, 204 East
Melbourne Ave., Silver Spring, Maryland 20901.
In the few months since its first organizational meeting in May
1987, the International J. I. Case Heritage Foundation has boosted
its roster of voting members to almost 1,000 persons and has
announced an impressive line-up of annual expositions for the next
five years. The Foundation honors the memory of J. I. Case and is
dedicated to the preservation of North America’s agricultural
heritage.
Launched at the first International J. I. Case Heritage
Exposition at Pawnee, Oklahoma, last spring, the Foundation will
hold its second annual ‘Expo’ in conjunction with the 40th
Annual Reunion of the Rough and Tumble Engineers’ Historical
Association, one of America’s oldest ag-heritage groups, at
Kinzers (Lancaster County), Pennsylvania, on August 17-20, 1988.
The Foundation welcomes both exhibitors and visitors to this
gathering of old steam engines, tractors, farm machines, Case cars
(the J. I. Case Threshing Machine Co. did make a passenger car
during the first quarter of the 20th Century) and admirers of
ag-heritage
Interested persons may obtain information about membership and
the 1988 Case Heritage Expo by writing Foundation Secretary Helen
Case Brigham, 204 East Melbourne Avenue, Silver Spring, Maryland
20901, to ask for ‘Case Heritage Info,’ enclosing a
self-addressed envelope with 22-cents (U.S.) return postage.
Foundation members receive a quarterly newsletter.
After the 1988 event at Kinzers, the Foundation will go to
Austin, Manitoba, where its third Expo will be held on July 26-29,
1989, in conjunction with the annual Thresher-men’s Reunion and
Stampede at the Manitoba Agricultural Museum. Foundation Vice
President and Expo Site Selection Committee Chairman W. C.
‘Chady’ Atteberry reports that the Foundation’s
directors have accepted several other bids from associations
seeking to host future Case Expos.
1990, last weekend in July and first weekend in
August, Western Antique Power’s annual ‘Great Oregon Steam
up’ at Salem (Brooks), Oregon; 1991, five days
ending on Labor Day, the Midwest Old Settlers and Threshers
Association’s Annual Reunion at Mount Pleasant, Iowa;
1992, the 150th anniversary year of the company
established by J. I. Case, four days ending on Labor Day, at the
Western Minnesota Steam Threshers’ Reunion at Rollag,
Minnesota.
Some leading lights of the 1988 Expo flank Helen Case Brigham
during a recent planning meeting on the grounds at the show
grounds. From left, Roland Woodward, Frances Astle, Helen, 1988
Reunion Chairman Otis Astle, and Carl Simpson
Some Expected Features of 1988 Case Expo
George Hedtke of Davis Junction, Illinois, will be at the
Kinzers Expo with the one and only boiler from the otherwise
extinct 150 HP Case road locomotive (largest steam traction engine
made by Case). It’s an exhibit which was the centerpiece of the
first Expo at Pawnee, in 1987.
Harry Kline, probably the best known ‘Case Company Man’
in the world, will be bringing one of old J. I. Case’s
‘Groundhog’ Threshers to Kinzers. It’s a vintage piece
from the Company collection in Racine, Wisconsin. He’ll also
have two steam-operated Case factory whistles, both of them rare
pieces — a 12-inch Crosby chime whistle and a three-barrel
Lunkenheimer. They used to blow over Case factories in Racine and
should broaden the range of the ‘noon whistle’ at
Kinzers.
Tom and Joan Unger of Lewisburg, Ohio, have already announced
that they will make the trek to Kinzers with their 1912
‘Doctor’s Special’ Case Car. Many other Case cars,
engines, tractors and machines are expected to journey to this
year’s Expo from across the continent.
The Foundation also has invited people who own Case Eagles, the
large cast iron birds perched on the world which used to greet
customers outside the premises of Company dealerships, to bring
them to the 1988 Expo for a ‘Convention of Eagles.’ It may
be the greatest flock of eagles ever observed.
A swap session for collectors of Case memorabilia, including
literature, photos and farm toys, will take place Friday afternoon,
August 19. The annual Foundation banquet and meeting will be held
Saturday evening, August 20 in nearby New Holland, PA.
Julie and Bob Lessig, who store their 30 HP Case engine at the
Rough and Tumble Assoc.’s grounds in Kinzers, are busy these
days putting it in apple pie order for the 1988 Expo.
