204 East Melbourne Avenue Silver Spring, Maryland 20901
J. I. Case, one of America’s foremost 19th Century inventors
and manufacturers of farm machinery, is headed for induction into
the National Agricultural Hall of Fame at Bonner Springs (near
Kansas City) Kansas next October.
The inductee is generally recognized as the inventor of the
Wisconsin, almost 150 years ago; became known worldwide as the
‘Threshing Machine King’; and produced the first
agricultural steam engine, which revolutionized agriculture on the
North American prairie lands.
The induction ceremony will take place on Friday afternoon,
October 20, and a whole weekend of activities to celebrate the
event is being planned jointly by leaders of the Ag-Hall of Fame
and the International J.I. Case Heritage Foundation. An opening
event will be the Hall’s annual ‘Honor Farmer’ Banquet
on Friday evening.
A principal nominator of J. I. Case for the honor was Helen Case
Brigham, of Silver Spring, Maryland, the inductee’s great
granddaughter who also is Secretary-Treasurer of the 1,600-member
J. I. Case Heritage Foundation. L. Don Kabray of Overland Park,
Kansas, a charter member of the Foundation and an active supporter
of the Ag-Hall of Fame/National Farm Center, also strongly endorsed
the nomination.
As he enters the Ag-Hall of Fame, J. I. Caseor ‘old J.
I.’, as he is known to many followers of ag-heritage will be
joining Cyrus McCormick, John Deere and a number of other persons
who have previously been inducted in recognition of their
contributions to the progress and development of agriculture in the
United States. The business J. I. Case founded almost 150 years ago
survives today as the Racine-based J. I. Case Company, an entity of
the huge Tenneco Corporation of Houston, Texas.
For persons who may be interested in attending the induction or
participating as exhibitors at the celebration, details of the
events which will honor J. I., Case at the Ag-Hall of Fame will be
provided as they become available in The Heritage Eagle, which is
distributed quarterly to members of the J. I. Case Heritage
Foundation (for information about Foundation membership, contact
Helen Case Brigham, Secretary, Case Foundation, 204 East Melbourne
Avenue, Silver Spring, Maryland 20901).
