I & I Club History

Club History and a Summary of Previous Historic Farm Days

In the summer of 1986, members of the Club and several members of the public approached the Champaign County Forest Preserve District about renovating and improving an unused site at the Middle Fork River Forest Preserve for the purpose of creating an Agricultural History center. The concept was for the eventual creation of a formal museum, with several activities during the year. Late that summer, the District Board approved the concept of the center and allocated $6,000 for repairs to buildings on the premises, reinstallation of electric service and building a fence across the front of the property. This property, commonly known as the Old Robeson Farm, included the Levi Wood house, two cattle sheds to be converted to machine storage and several other structures to be demolished.

In the fall of 1986, the Club began preparations for the first show, by planting 12 acres of wheat to be used for harvesting and threshing demonstrations and the stubble field for plowing demonstrations during the event. In the spring and summer of 1987, a loading dock was constructed, and brush was cleared from several acres of former pasture land to make space for the main exhibit area. Meanwhile, District personnel had made repairs to the buildings, installed water and electric service and erected toilet facilities.

The first event was successful, with about 1100 people attending and has been growing steadily. In 1988, the 1928 Avery Combine was made available on loan from the Urbana Park District, and has served as a star attraction ever since.

Nineteen ninety marked the first year of a "Featured Brand", with International Harvester equipment serving as the center piece. Although the weather did not cooperate, and rain fell almost constantly during the show, attendance figures still hit new highs.

In 1991, John Deere equipment was featured, and with the assistance of very pleasant weather conditions, attendance once again hit new highs with huge crowds both days. This also hit a new high for the amount of equipment on display, with over 200 tractors on display, plus many pieces of related equipment and the largest display of stationary engines and small items to date.

The 1992 show featured J. I. Case equipment, coinciding with the 150th Anniversary of the firms entrance into the farm equipment business, making it among the oldest names in the farm equipment sector. The Club has acquired a sawmill which operates during the show in additional to the usual harvesting, threshing, plowing and related activities.

Allis Chalmers was featured in 1993, with an exceptional turnout of exhibits, wet weather hampered field activities on Sunday, but other demonstrations and activities took up the slack. A very rare Fairbanks Morse tractor was also on display, in keeping with Fairbanks Morse being the featured Gas Engine.

Nineteen ninety four saw the addition of a blacksmith shop on the grounds and it became a permanent addition to the show activities. Massey Harris and related brands of equipment were featured, with a good selection of quality restored tractors, and a few combines on display. We also had some foreign visitors, four gentlemen from Scotland who had read about our show in the Massey Harris collectors publication.

Oliver and Hart-Parr were featured in 1995 and with help from the Midwest Oliver and Hart-Parr Collectors, we had over 120 Olivers and relatives on display, including some very rare pieces.

Nineteen ninety six brought many changes, challenges and opportunities to the club. Although the relationship with the Forest Preserve District had been beneficial to both parties, we did not have control over the event. In March, we were approached about acquiring the property of the Penfield Improvement Association. This property included a nice heated and air conditioned meeting hall, lighted softball field, and an area for parking. After a public hearing to get comments from the community and legal consultation, we acquired the property to be used as a permanent home for the club.

This got us a home, but not much area to work with. To make a show site we needed land for exhibit space, field demonstrations, parking and storage building for equipment. The former Penfield grade schools adjoins the P.I.A property and included several acres of land. The school closed after the 1990-91 school year and was sold at auction. The buyer eventually rented it to a local restaurant chain and they used it as warehouse space. The gymnasium and all the ground floor space was filled with old restaurant equipment and just plain junk. After negotiations with the owner, we agreed to purchase the school property and on June 10, 1996, the papers were sighed, and we were one step closer to having our "own" show. Of course this required money so a call went out to the members and in four months we raised nearly $20,000 dollars to help pay for the property.  The site required a lot of cleanup, and we were already committed to the Forest Preserve for 1996, so we decided to hold our first show at Penfield in 1997.  However, ten days before the 1996 show, the club officers met at the Middle Fork site and decided to move the show because of restricted access to the Middle Fork site due to road construction.

A quick assessment of the Penfield site, some initial plans for the show layout were made, and the project was off and running. Several buildings had to be moved along with threshing machines, combines, corn shellers, and the saw mill, as well as cleaning and making repairs to the school building. The turnout of volunteer help was amazing. In short order the blacksmith shop, PA and Information booth, and storage buildings had been relocated six miles to the new site. The following day, the sawmill, threshing machines and other equipment were also relocated. Meanwhile, several crews were hard a work cleaning out the gymnasium, clearing brush, leveling the abandoned railroad grade, building a loading dock, and just generally cleaning up.  Friday morning, as the show was about to open, what had looked to be a nearly impossible job was almost finished.  A lot of detail work remained, but we were ready!

The 1996 feature was Minneapolis Moline, and the B.F. Avery Collectors group were holding their annual convention at our show. We had an excellent turnout of M-M equipment and about 100 pieces on display including tractors, uni-tractors, a UDLX, equipment and an experimental articulated tandem tractor. The B.F. Avery Collectors also put on an outstanding show with about 40 tractors on display including a Model A and V Avery's, General's, and Wards Twin Row's from as far away as New York and North Dakota.

In addition to the featured brands, we also had many Deeres, Internationals, Olivers, and tractors of all colors and brands on display. The sawmill was up and running, turning the piles of logs into stacks of lumber. Once again the staple of any steam and gas show was running , the threshing machines were hard at work threshing oats every day. Meanwhile an informal and just for fun tractor pull was in progress. No rules, prizes, or much of anything else, but just a lot of putting the "old iron" to the test. Due to the change in location we were unable to have our usual plow demonstrations so the tractor pull took its place and it became a yearly event.

Since then we have made considerable progress in restoring the school to an usable condition, a new heating and air conditioning system was installed in the cafeteria, kitchen and office area. The roof was repaired, windows replaced and a lot of general cleanup and paint. The Club has also acquired additional acreage adjacent to the school property and has leased some farmland near the site as well.

The 1997 show featured Ford, with Ford and Ferguson tractors and Ford cars and trucks on display. In 1997 a couple more annual events were added to the schedule. Saturday evening now includes live entertainment and this year the Marvin Lee Band helped make it great night. On Sunday morning our neighbors from the Methodist Church added Sunday morning open air services followed by breakfast. Although the weather was hot the show was a great success.

The 1998 show featured International Harvester tractors, trucks, farm equipment and anything made by IH. The Corn Items Collectors Club also displayed at the show. A total of 730 tractors were on the grounds, of which, 526 were International Harvester tractors, as well as 67 IH trucks, 38 IH lawn and garden tractors, numerous gas engines and the Super 70 Series reunion. A talent show and entertainment by Louie, the singing Farmer, were added on Friday. The Ladies Auxiliary of the Club had a very successful show with their demonstrations and exhibits. The new Club Hall was dedicated on July 1, 1998 and during the show it was used for a quilt show, square dance and Bingo. A number of classrooms by the old school's gymnasium were dedicated as a permanent museum and the Club members made a new entry and stairway to it from the gymnasium. We were blessed with three wonderful days of weather for the show which led to record crowds.

The 1999 show featured All John Deere Products and Chevrolet Trucks. This year the members constructed a permanent roof over the saw mill. Friday became Senior Citizen Day with an afternoon Bingo game. Mark Wood hosted a couple of tractor restoration clinics and we had live entertainment on both Friday and Saturday night. The food was excellent this year, Friday night we had Prime Rib from "The Oasis", the best around, Saturday there was a fish dinner hosted by the Lions Club in Gifford and for Sunday lunch The Oasis cooked up a fried chicken dinner.

The 2000 show featured J.I. Case and Caterpillar. This year the members constructed a permanent building for the blacksmith shop and moved the new tractor pull track to its own location.  A rare experimental Caterpillar four wheel drive tractor was brought in for display.  The tractor is not operable having been robbed of many parts, and was actually recovered from Cat's own "boneyard" and given a coat of paint for the exhibit.  The four wheel drive project was abandoned in favor of developing the Challenger line of  rubber tracked tractors.  It bears many similarities in appearance to the early Challenger models.  

In 2001, Allis Chalmers was the featured brand with a great turnout of the popular orange machines.  Tractors, combines and implements of all sorts were in good supply.  Again we were were blessed with good weather and favorable conditions.  A new roof over the grandstand area at the pulling track made watching the pullers much more pleasant in the shade.  "Orphans and Oddballs" was a secondary feature with many low and limited production tractors on display in that area. 

Red as far as the eye could see!  The International Harvester Collectors descended on Penfield in 2002 for the annual Red Power Roundup, their national show.  It was phenomenal, over 1400 red tractors turned out from all over the United States.  Several vary rare units were on hand, the 1913 45 hp Titan owned by the American Thresherman of Pinckneyville, Illinois, is the only known 45 with all the original features still intact.  The only IHC turbine tractor in existence from the Smithsonian attracted large crowds during the show.  Nearly 400 Cub Cadets were on hand aswell, and they even had their own plowing demonstration area.  Even more impressive was the surprise appearance of a HUME Tractor, whichwas originally was designed and built in the small town of Hume, Illinois.  Less than 300 of these tractors were built, and this one was discovered in a remote area of Ontario, Canada.  It is the only  known  Hume Tractor in existence. 

Hart-Parr and Oliver were the feature at the 2003 show, with the Hart-Parr Oliver Collectors Association holding their annual summer show at Penfield.  The center of attraction was the return to life of "Old No.3", a 1903 Hart-Parr Model 3 tractor believed to be the oldest operating gas engine tractor in the world.  A special birthday celebraton was held to honor the 100th anniversary of this historic machine.  The tractor is on loan from the Smithsonian, and will be in the I&I Museum through at least 2005.  The tractor recieved some engine repairs, and new canopy built to original specifications.  Although not the first tractor manufacturer, Hart-Parr was the first commercially successful venture into the agricultural tractor market.