20 YEARS IN THE MAKING

By STACY MILLBERG - Staff Writer - smillberg@starbeacon.com
Star Beacon

May 11, 2008 05:09 am

— WAYNE TOWNSHIP — More than 20 years of planning came to fruition Saturday as the Ashtabula County Antique Engine Club dedicated and opened its new Agricultural Heritage Museum.
The new building has been a long-standing goal of the club since its inception 27 years ago, said Larry Lipps, club president. The ACAEC had existed for about seven to eight years before moving to the grounds on Route 322, where the club has been housed since.
Members began putting money away toward the new building, but as with anything, for every bit of money the club saved, the cost of materials and such increased. Eventually the club had enough funds to make the building a reality last year, Lipps said.
The museum was a goal of the nine founding members of the club
and has continued throughout the years. Several promises were made from various members as to items they would donate once the building was up. When the doors of the building opened Saturday, those items and many others filled the museum, with new items coming in all the time, Lipps said.
“This is a work in progress,” said Janet Lipps, club secretary. “It will never be finished, with items coming and going all the time.”
Wayne Johnson, club vice president, really took the helm with getting the building up and running. The club decided on an all steel structure with no beams on the interior of the building to provide more display room, Larry said.
“We decided on this building because of availability, cost and local builders,” he said.
An Amish family constructed the entire building itself over the course of a few weeks.
Some of the items displayed in the museum have been donated to the club over the years. Others are on loan for the season and new items continue to come in.
The 50-foot by 105-foot building displays agricultural items dating back as far as the early 1800s. A small dairy section greets patrons as they enter the building with various tools and dairy bottles.
“There’s a lot of interesting things here,” Larry said. “I grew up on a farm and some of these things I’ve never seen.”
One of the earlier pieces in the museum is a 1905 hand-operated hay press. Several of the items on display were manufactured in Ohio, with several being manufactured in Ashtabula County.
An 1865 Crosby and Monticel plow, manufactured in Ashtabula, is proudly displayed as well as a Fanning Mill manufactured in the mid-1800s in Ashtabula.
The oldest item on display in the museum is a circa 1800 winnowing basket. Another of the oldest items on display include a winnowing basket carved out of a tree trunk.
Some other interesting pieces include a Civil War era Ground Hop Thresher.
“I’d heard about this all my life, but never knew what it was,” Larry said.
About 50 years ago a lawn mower manufacturer known as Chief Garden Tractors made its home in Rock Creek. One of the old lawn mowers made by the former local manufacturer also is on display.
The club is still in the process of marking items and determining their origin. Eventually club members will open the museum up for guided group tours and school field trips. For now, the museum is open during all events held on the grounds or by special arrangements made with the club.