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September 21, 2001

Saved from the scrap heap...

Texas Early Day Tractor and Engine Association celebrates 30th anniversary...

By Lana Robinson
Field Editor

Agriculture's past is revisited the first weekend of October each year when members of the Texas Early Day Tractor and Engine Association roar into Temple for their fall show.

The largest of its kind in the state, the show drew over 250 tractors, 300 small engines, and 15,000 people to TEDTEA's 48-acre show grounds at 1717 Eberhardt Road last year. Organizer's are busy gearing up for the event's 30th anniversary, October 5-7.

Each year folks step back in time as hundreds of green, red, and yellow tractors of days-gone-by parade, pull, and demonstrate their horsepower. They listen to the sputters, pops, and purrs of old-time two cylinder engines, large and small, and observe them in operation, shelling corn, threshing wheat, pumping water—even churning ice cream.

"It's really a packed weekend with more attractions to see than a person can take in. It's a big show, with a lot of activities. Actually, it's a working museum," says Darwin "Monk" Ivicic of Holland, a past association president who serves as the show's parade announcer every year. "We'll have wheat threshing with all steam-powered threshing machines, the way it was done in the old days—pre-1900. We'll have a lot of turn-of-the-century activities, like corn grinding and sheep-shearing, but not strictly farm-related. We'll have black-smithing, a shingle mill, a concrete block maker, old washing machines—anything from early day life. Our organization is dedicated to early farm heritage and other similar heritages."

Though Friday, October 5, is "move-in" day, and the show is Saturday and Sunday, most of the TEDTEA members will be coming into town the preceding Monday and Tuesday. Some, like Gary Hudgens of Bell Falls, live close by and may bring 20 or 30 pieces of equipment, which requires multiple trips. Frank Turner, along with Bradley Ware of Killeen, the association's past presidents and owners of a vast collection of antique tractors, will also be among the exhibitors. Louis and Ray Mil-ler of George-town, two of the largest collectors of unique and rare farm equipment in the state, transport their antique goodies to the Temple show year after year.

Ivicic points out that some of the really old equipment has a very high value. He says a man in Billings, Montana, owner of the largest collection of antique tractors and farm equipment in the world, died recently. That collection brought $4.6 million at auction.

"Bear in mind, this was super fine, older pieces of equipment. Like all antiques, the older and more rare the piece, the more expensive it is," Ivicic explains. "Back in the early 1900s, there were as many as 800 companies building tractors. Companies were starting up. Some were getting big, others were going bankrupt. That's what brings about the rarity. The kinds and variations of those early tractors. We've got a large lot full of different brand names_International Harvester, Allis Chalmers, Oliver, Fordson, and others."

Ivicic bought his first antique tractor, a 1935 John Deere B, in 1974, but he emphasizes that you don't have to be a collector to join the club. An interest in early-day life is all that's required.

Tractor pulls, large and small

Classes range from relatively small, stock, unweighted tractors to huge highly modified tractors where nearly anything goes.

Saturday events begin at 9 a.m. and pretty much run until dark. Fairgoers can witness periodic tractor pulls and races, a parade at 1 p.m., and various other activities and demonstrations, including the working cotton gin, antique peanut threshers and hay balers, and the operation of big engines in the engine shed.

Throughout the day Saturday and Sunday, fairgoers can observe a Small Engine Display, a Blacksmith Demonstration, and a Corn Grist Mill.

Barbecue and other foods are available for sale and tractor-pulled hay rides provide fun accessibility.

TEDTEA's history traced

The association traces its origin back to 1971, when three men, Duncan Seawright of Meridian, Dale Munday of Temple, and Ulas Jones of Waco–all lovers of old tractors–got together to put on a show. A few months later, the three commenced plans to organize the "Texas Early Days Tractor and Gas Engine Association." Thirteen numbered among the original members, who paid dues of 50 cents each. By the second show, the club had grown to over 50 members, and in Meridian in 1973, there were over 100.

For almost a decade, annual Spring and Fall shows were held Seawright's farm near Meridian. The field of Calvin Buice in Speegleville became the next TEDTEA show site. In 1989, a land search committee scoured the state for a permanent home. After months of negotiations and a final club vote, Temple was selected. The showground is now home to the "Seaton" or "Lesikar Brother's Gin." Its huge Fairbanks-Morse engine has been restored and cranks up during shows. Other rare farm equipment has also been donated.

Today, the club has grown to over 500 members, owners of thousands of pieces of "old iron." Their purpose is to preserve the farming equipment of their forefathers and to educate others on early agrarian history.

Connie Kuehl, director of tourism for the City of Temple since 1989, is the association's current secretary. Kuehl's first order of business as a city employee was to come up with a proposal suggesting that Temple be state headquarters for the tractor club and pitch it to a group of about 30 people in a mem-ber's corn field.

"The city helped me put together a package with land and a long-term lease. We were one of three cities that put together proposals. They liked our proposal and the support we were offering," says Kuehl, who spearheaded efforts leading to a number of pioneer structures being moved to the property for restoration.

Saved from the scrap heap

Kuehl loves the stories behind the metal treasures.

"Many of these old pieces were going to be cut up for scrap metal and we saved them, some within minutes of being destroyed," she says. "We're interested in history. We are developing archives that will tell the stories of these things, where people hear what they did, and where they were, and who owned them."

Monk Ivicic has his own personal favorite concerning a 1915 one-cylinder Mogul tractor now owned by collectors Louis and Ray Miller of Georgetown.

"That tractor was lost in a great flood down the Rio Grande in 1927. Sixty years later, a gravel-pit operator south of Mercedes unearthed it, and the Millers bought it and restored it," says Ivicic.

Other examples of relics being saved from the torch include a 1916 "Universal Unaflow" steam engine, built by the Skinner Engine Co. in Erie, Penn., which with only six hours to spare was rescued by Seely Electric Company in Schulenburg and donated to the association. Another rare early 1900s Corliss-type Atlas steam engine from a sorghum mill was generously donated by a descendent for preservation.

Proceeds from the annual show go back into the property. The association also accepts contributions of money, parts, equipment, or skilled labor.

Kuehl invites you to bring the whole family for an educational look at the early days on the farm.

"You might just swing a deal for a rare rusted treasure that, with just a little elbow grease and know-how, could come to life by next year's show. If you need advice or a tractor part, the Texas Early Day Tractor and Engine Association's fall show is the place to get it," she adds.

Admission is $5 for adults; children under 12 free. From Interstate 35 in Temple, Texas, take exit 302 (Nugent Road). Go west on Nugent to Eberhardt Road. Turn right, and head to 1717 Eberhardt Road. Showgrounds are on your right.

For more information, write: TEDTEA, P. O. Box 1704, Temple, TX 76503; call 254/298-5720; email ckuehl@gkcc.com or visit : www.tedtea.org.