TRACTOR MUSEUM SHARES FARM HERITAGE
PHOTO COURTESY OF CANADIAN TRACTOR MUSEUM
In the late 1990s, members of the Westlock Vintage Tractor and Machinery Club noticed locally restored antique tractors often went up for auction and left the country. “People here decided they didn’t want that to happen,” said Canadian Tractor Museum president Steven Miller. The group led the creation of the Museum. Opened in 1998, the 20,000 square-foot facility sits on eight acres next to the Westlock Pioneer Museum.
Constructed with the assistance of the Town of Westlock, Westlock County and the local business community, its collection of tractors and equipment was donated by Tractor Club members. The facility is now supported by government grants, fundraisers and private donations.
The main gallery features nearly 100 tractors manufactured between 1918 and 1960. Among this candy-coloured assortment are machines by John Deere, International-Harvester, Massey Ferguson and Minneapolis-Moline. Also included are rarities such as an early-1900s Case steam engine, two kerosene-fuelled 1918 Advance-Rumely tractors and a 1919 Waterloo Boy, one of a handful in existence.
An outbuilding houses stationary engines, and there are about 150 additional restored machines on the property. These include cultivation, haying, threshing and tillage equipment and an operational antique sawmill.
Many visitors have farming in their family history, said Miller, though the Museum has recently ramped up tours for school children, many with little previous exposure to agriculture.
The Tractor Club’s 45 members meet monthly. Among them are farmers, mechanics and automotive body men. For 33 years, the group has held the Vintage Tractor and Machinery Show on the first weekend of June. The event features plowing and threshing demonstrations and temporary tractor displays. The club also participates in the Westlock and District Agricultural Society’s Big Fair Days annually on the third weekend of August.
The Museum is open daily between the Victoria Day long weekend and the Labour Day long weekend and on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays in winter. Visit canadiantractormuseum.ca for more information.
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