View from the Cab: Well done, Penfield
By Kent Casson
History is alive and well each summer in Penfield, Illinois.
The annual Historic Farm Days has come and gone and our family already looks forward to next year’s show! Our son Kasen has loved the farm show ever since he was little and now his younger sisters enjoy the experience also.
Plenty of history is on display at Penfield – including the oldest tractor in the world. The Hart-Parr Number 3 has worked on an Iowa farm for 23 years and is living proof of Hart-Parr quality, long life and service. Descendants of the Hart-Parr are the result of 23 years of experience.
This particular tractor on display at Penfield was sold to George Mitchell who farmed near Charles City, Iowa for the sum of $1,580 in 1903. The machine was mainly used for belt work, powering a threshing machine and car husker shredder. The tractor was bought back by the Hart-Parr company in 1924. The Number 3 tractor toured county and state fairs promoting Hart-Parr tractors and their durability.
Oliver Corp. purchased Hart-Parr in 1929 and continued to tour the Number 3 promoting Oliver Hart-Parr tractors and equipment. The last known record of this tractor running under its own power was in 1949 at the Farmer’s Museum of Cooperstown, NY.
The Hart-Parr Number 3 was donated to the Smithsonian Institution in 1960 by Oliver Corp. and it sat on exhibit in the Agriculture Hall there until the summer of 1993. The tractor was eventually loaned by the Smithsonian to Historic Farm Days in Penfield so visitors can take in the sight each summer inside the old Penfield school museum.
Right down from the Hart-Parr, you can see a very rare gas turbine tractor from 1965 which was a gift of the International Harvester Company to the Smithsonian, on loan to the I&I Antique Tractor & Gas Engine Club in Penfield.
This HT-341 experimental gasoline turbine tractor operates with a hydrostatic transmission and is air cooled with no brakes, gears or clutch. The 90-pound motor produces 85 horsepower. The tractor tended to rear back due to excessive power and could not be put into commercial production until a less powerful engine was developed.
We also enjoyed seeing Penfield’s oldest building, the United Methodist Church, established in 1879 currently owned by the I&I Club. There were still hymnals placed on the wooden pews. A log cabin which at one time served as a post office is also displayed on the Penfield grounds.
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