613 8th Avenue, Charles City, Iowa 50616
The Cedar Valley Engine Club of Charles City, Iowa held their
Annual Threshers’ Reunion on August 30 and 31 and September 1
of 1975. It was the best show they ever had and was well attended.
The feature attractions this past year were honoring the Hart and
Parr families and the 75th anniversary of tractor manufacturing in
Charles City by the Oliver Corporation and White Farm
Equipment.
It was in 1901 that Charles Hart and Charles Parr built the
first successful gasoline tractor. On Sunday, August 31,
Congressman Grassly, plant manager Robert Fuller, and Mayor Leo
Schula of Charles City, all paid tribute in a short program to
honor the Hart and Parr families. We were honored to have Charles
Hart’s family from Montana at the show to take part in the
program along with nieces and nephews from Charles City.
We threshed 30 acres of oats, sawed several thousand feet of
lumber, and made many cedar shingles which were given away as
souvenirs.
The event boasted a wide variety of tractors. White Farm
Equipment here in Charles City gave us a great deal of help with
the show. We had Hart and Parr tractors from a 1913 30-60 to four
of White’s new 1975 models on display. Our steam engines are a
Rumely, a Nichols and Shepherd in the 100 H.P. class, two Cases, a
Port Huron, and a Reeves in the 60 to 80 H.P. class, and a
Minneapolis. We also have a high wheel Reeves which is a rare
engine, a scale model of a Case, and an under-mounted Avery. In
addition, there were several hundred gas engines from a 16 H.P.
Lennox on down, and lots of gas tractors of which some are rare
tractors. On Sunday August 31, the Mason City Car Club was over
with their antique cars.
Our Commemorative plate this year features the Hart Parr No. 1,
a 1913 30-60, a 1926 18-36, a 1932 18-27, a 1948 88, a 1960 1850,
and in the center a White 4-180 Field Boss. On the back is some
history of the Hart Parr tractor.
It is an honor to be living in Charles City, the birth place of
the farm tractor. We are hoping for a bigger and better show over
the Labor Day weekend in 1976 and we hope to see many of you
then.