WATERLOO, Iowa — Four years in the making, the John Deere Tractor & Engine Museum is now receiving visitors in the historic 1941 building where design and testing once took place.

Rosa Grant, curator for the museum, highlights what a visitor will find. Part of its focus is a display that shows work as part of daily living – washing clothes, shelling corn, pumping water. The display moves into wind and animal energy, then engine energy, with the first success coming from the steam engine.

The first engines used external combustion with wood or fire heating water under a tank to produce steam pressure that moved the piston in the cylinder and the engine. Combustion engines were the next advancement. “They were an improvement over steam,” Grant explained.

At the museum is a rare example of a Froelich traction engine, the first to move backwards and forwards. “This Froelich replica was built in 1937 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of John Deere,” she said. “The replica had been in the warehouse at the Moline archives and now people can see it. This is just one of a few pieces people are excited to see.”

It was the Hart Parr Co. that coined the term “tractor,” a name it gave its own gasoline traction engine. It took Deere a while to get into the tractor business. “Before the tractor, John Deere was already a successful company,” Grant said. “They had a full line; the only thing they were missing was a tractor.”

William Butterworth, company president at the time, had no use for the new contraption. He is quoted in September 1916 stating, “We have repeatedly told our bankers that we were not in the tractor business and (we) were not going into it.”

However, Deere had been dabbling at development with an all-wheel-drive tractor designed by Joseph Dain. Famous for his hay equipment, Dain entered into Deere’s fold when it purchased the Dain Manufacturing Co. and brought him on board in 1910.

A replica of this tractor is on display at the museum. While it appeared promising at the time, the high cost and wartime production for World War I impeded progress into the tractor business. When Dain died of pneumonia in 1917, Deere’s hopes of a tractor faded and it turned to the Waterloo Gasoline Engine Co. to solve the problem.

“The company was already successful and had the heavy infrastructure and all the resources needed for Deere to be profitable,” Grant said. “Deere purchased the firm in March of 1918 for $2.25 million.”

Through the efforts of Otto Borchert, a salesman who brokered the deal, Deere bought the company in 1918. The museum offers an entire section titled “Why Waterloo?” that provides insight into the Waterloo connection.

The museum includes 19 tractors. Ten are owned by collectors, and the rest are owned by John Deere. What is special is along with each tractor is a plaque with the history of the owner and machine, making the display personal. “I like to hear the history and learn what is special to that family,” Grant said.

For example, the John Deere Model R owned by Mark Johnston is special to him because his father, Peter, would borrow a local diesel-powered tractor for the heavy work on their Yorkshire, England, farm.

“The pony motor and diesel engine fascinated the young man and inspired him to pursue a career as a John Deere engineer and a Model R enthusiast,” his plaque states.

Many Deere collectors know of the soft-spoken Verlan Heberer and his wonderful collection of tractors. His 1960 730 John Deere LP hi-crop is on display at the museum. The tractor was built tall to work in sugarcane and vegetable fields. This rare tractor is one of 30 made and runs on propane.

Mike Ostrander’s1924 Model D tractor was one of the earliest in production. This particular model is Grant’s favorite, and she said the Model D was the longest-running production model of all the two-cylinders. They were produced from 1923-53.

“They were the first to bear green and yellow and they were built on a moving assembly line and mass-produced,” she explained.

The museum has 25 interactive stations and six engines to help visitors learn more about engine designs. There is a theater with a short film, and no visit would be complete without a stop at the gift shop.

The new museum is located at 500 Westfield Avenue, Waterloo, Iowa, and is open Tuesday-Saturday from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. There is a cost of $8 for adults and $4 for seniors, Deere employees and retirees and active duty military. Children 12 and under are free if accompanied by an adult. For an extra $2, guided tours are available but must be scheduled in advance.

Call 319-292-6126 for details or log onto www.deere.com/en_US/corporate/ our_company/fans_visitors/tours_ attractions/vintage-tractors-and-engines- museum.page for details. Factory tours are also available at certain times.