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| 1/2 scale model of John Froelich's invention |
Welcome to the blog. Earlier last week Jesse and I traveled north, camped, fished, and visited a very special museum. The museum was dedicated to John Froelich, the son of German immigrants. Froelich's invention was the first gas powered tractor capable of forward and reverse motion. It was invented in Clayton County, Iowa in 1892.
Within 2 years, John Froelich and partners formed the Waterloo Gasoline Traction Engine Company in Waterloo, Iowa. By 1918 the John Deere Company bought the Waterloo plant. The Waterloo Tractor Works exists to this day and is one of the largest tractor factories in the United States. From its humble beginnings, John Froelich forever changed farming and how the worlds people are fed.
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| The Village of Froelich is central to many Clayton County attractions. Each fish denotes a great place to catch some trout. The best rural food in the county is in the little town of Gunder. |
Froelich is easy to find and just as easy to accidentally drive past. At its peak, this town boasted a population of 50. As of now, about a dozen people live there. So where is it? Many folks have heard of the town of Marquette or have toured nearby Spook Cave. Froelich is just west of there - about 12 miles west of the Mississippi River on Highway 18. It's central to the trout fishing streams and that great restaurant in the neighboring town of Gunder.
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| The Froelich Museum located at the old General Store |
The Froelich museum is housed in the Burlingame General Merchandise building. The general store was run by various owners, the last of whom were the Burlingame family. The building had been clad in metal siding back then. Why? The train passed so close to the store that the metal siding was needed to prevent sparks from the train's steam fired engine from burning down the building. The warehouse (which you can see behind the store), had an opening at the right height to allow freight to be moved from a box car right into the warehouse. That was pretty cool!
Also included in the tour was an ice house, one room school house, blacksmith's shop, 1903 era barn and more. The cost was only $5 and the tour took over two hours, including a couple of well produced videos. (After fishing in the morning, a chance to sit down was most welcome!) There was a tremendous amount of history and I learned a lot while visiting the tiny village. It was the highlight of the trip.
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| The Burlingame General Store as it would appear in the early days. |
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| Do your eggs measure up? |
Thanks for riding along! It's likely I'll be doing a little camping and fishing again soon... well, at least camping. There's the most interesting pizza restaurant that sounds appealing. For those who watch "The Big Bang Theory" on TV, this restaurant sounds like a place character "Sheldon Cooper" might enjoy. Stay tuned!
Safe and happy travels always!
Brad, Jesse James, and Jennifer
Jones County, Iowa
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| Taken earlier that day, this is the pond at the Big Spring trout hatchery... a great place for "reflecting"... |
I would love to tour around that town. I love old towns and to see what was used in those days. Such fun stuff.
ReplyDeleteIt was a blast. I was just up that way again this morning around 5 AM, playing "cat and mouse" with the radar. Mother Nature lost. Gotta get that fishing in!
DeleteIt's a really cool area though. There are some other small museums in the area which I'm hoping to tour and write about. It's a lot of fun!
This is my kind of museum, lovely. Could have more tractors though. Everybody could have more tractors.
ReplyDeleteAnd trains. :)
I wish they did have more tractors... There isn't a whole lot of space. They pretty much kept it just to the info about the town and John Froelich. But I'd sure like to see more tractors, too! My understanding is there is a display at the John Deere factory.
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