This fall the Prairie Land Museum celebrated its 45th Steam Show and Fall Festival. Located on the corner of Lincoln and Michigan in Jacksonville, Ill., this show is a mixture of antique tractors, flea market and vendors offering anything from tractor parts to crafts.

This year’s featured tractor was Allis-Chalmers and there were an array of Persian orange beauties on display – like the rare 1951 Potato Special that belongs to Reta Stutsnan of Bath, Ill. Along with tractors there were also some AC implements such as the All Crop Harvester Model 40 and a cool Roto Baler. There was even an early AC golf cart.

One interesting AC was an M crawler with a huge blade. The crawler was restored by Ruth and Jim Heidel of Hermann, Mo., in memory of Graves Excavating, Owensville, Mo. The names of the Graves family that are listed are Richard, Frank and Richard Jr.

Another hard-working machine was an AC WD 45 pulling tractor. There were many other tractors on-site, like the awesome Rumley Do-All with a two-row mounted cultivator on back, as well as the Palomino Roof lawn and garden tractor that looks like a small Jeep.

Besides the tractors, there were also a variety of hit-and-miss engines on display.

One innovative collector set up two wooden figures that dance when the machine is on. The title on the display was “Clogging Country Cousins.”

The show is held on the grounds of the Prairie Land Heritage Museum Institute, a nonprofit educational organization that started out in 1969. The group focuses on preserving antique farm machinery, farming methods of the past, steam engines and crafts.

Visitors to this year’s show had a chance to visit the museum and see what an old-fashioned farm kitchen might look like, look at old machinery, check out the blacksmith shop and much more. Near the farm and home museum there were artisans showing how early crafts like spinning, quilting and pottery were done.

These days, there are many period pieces and antique tractors and machines that make up the museum, but when the group started out its main collection came from the collections of Pat Kenny and Milford Rees. The museum was first located at the Morgan County Fairgrounds.

As the equipment and displays expanded, the group was able to lease 180 acres of land in 1975 from the State Department of Mental Health.

The museum and main buildings include a huge stone barn that has been equipped as a large kitchen. In this kitchen they cook up their famous ham and beans that many visitors come from miles around to try.

Although this show is right in the middle of harvest season, the last weekend of September, many farmers shut down their combines to come to the annual event for food and fun.

In fact, one farmer said his combine broke down that Friday evening and he just decided to leave it until Monday morning and come enjoy the show.

Besides the permanent museum, there are a few other items that belong to Prairie Land that stay on-site year-round, like the steam locomotive-driven train purchased from New Salem State Park near Petersburg.

It consists of an engine, passenger cars, depot, water tower and approximately one mile of track.

No one can miss the show-stopping beauty of the Jacksonville Bandstand that is one of two built in 1878-79 on the grounds of the Jacksonville State Hospital.

The bandstand was used by the local community regularly until World War II, then sporadically until 1983 when it was loaned to the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institute.

The bandstand was returned to be restored in 2009 and moved to the Prairie Land Heritage site in September 2011. It was moved in crates and today, has been restored to its late-1800s beauty. The grounds also include a lovely white church where services were held during the show.

For those who didn’t make it to this annual event, the museum is open to the public. Museum member Bob Kominck will take appointments and can be reached at 217-494-2193. Log onto http://prairielandheritage.wordpress.com for more information.

Readers with questions or comments for Cindy Ladage may write to her in care of this publication.