IH Museum Mixes Tractors With Refrigerators

IH Museum Mixes Tractors With Refrigerators TRACTORS Antiques When someone opens an International Harvester museum you expect to see lots of red tractors and IH memorabilia What you don’t expect is a lineup of IH refrigerators and freezers Darrell Darst grew up with IH equipment and has been collecting for years He opened a museum on his farm and has 3 additional buildings filled with tractors combines and implements His wife Kevin says it’s a surprise to many who visit the museum to learn that IH manufactured a line of refrigerators and freezers air conditioners and dehumidifiers from 1947 to 1956 Irma Harding IH’s version of Betty Crocker® was a personality created to lead a promotional team of women who answered questions tested recipes and traveled the country giving demonstrations on how to preserve and freeze produce Kevin explains how honored she felt to meet Ruth Whiting hired by IH to develop the campaign “At the time freezing and how to freeze was new ” Kevin explains “Ruth opened up the kitchen in Evansville Ind She came up with the cookbooks designed the packaging material and trained the girls to do the demos She called them ‘her girls ’ ” Whiting and others the Darsts talk to have fond memories of working for IH After visiting with a former employee he gave Kevin a travel clock that had been given away when IH manufactured its millionth refrigerator Another couple delivered a refrigerator to the museum when they moved to a nursing home They had used the refrigerator for decades and it still worked The museum has 16 refrigerators advertising and other items along with farming items from small items to Tracto a robot made with tractor parts including headlights for eyes and piston head and muffler arms The arm holding an oil can goes up and down the head turns and the eyes light up Darrell remembers seeing Tracto at a corn-picking contest when he was 13 By the time he found it in 1992 it had been painted blue by a Ford dealership Darrell restored it to its original colors before placing it in the Darsts’ museum Other prized items in his collection include a no-till IH planter built after WW II and a 450-diesel cotton picker To tour the museum call for a reservation Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Darrell and Kevin Darst Madison Mo ph 660 291-8742; farmall130@socket net

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