The new agricultural complex at Heartland Community College gained a piece of farming history on Tuesday as a tractor from almost 100 years ago now sits in front of one of its newest buildings.
HCC faculty member and farmer Dave Bishop donated the 1927 McCormick-Deering tractor to the college.
Agricultural engineering students at Lincoln Community High School worked to restore the tractor over the last three years.
The tractor sits in front of the agricultural complex as a symbol of the improvements made since this antique was once the next big thing, according to Heartland Provost Rick Pearce.
“It represented, at the time of its purchase, real advancements in agricultural technology, which may be a surprise to you once you see it unveiled,” he said during a dedication ceremony.
After 66 years of the tractor collecting dust in his grandfather’s farm in East Peoria, Bishop said he found the proper place for it to sit while making his contribution to HCC’s Agricultural Department.
“I had the honor of being a part of the development of this complex, and I had the chance to teach here for a number of years,” Bishop said. “It just felt like this was the appropriate place to put it.”
As a faculty member at HCC, Bishop hopes that having the antique tractor on display in front of the new, modern building, helps the students gain perspective.
“That’s the hope – that people walk up this sidewalk into this state-of-the-art agricultural facility, they’ll walk by and see that was state-of the-art too 100 years earlier,” Bishop said.
Currently, the tractor is not operational, but according to Bishop, getting it to run again is not completely of out of the question.
“Everything is here,” Bishop said. “It’s a matter of ... if you sat still for 66 years, you wouldn't work very well either.”
Bishop founded PrairiErth Farm in Atlanta, Ill.
