Historical Society hosts overflow crowd at Highland House Museum, as John Wickerham discusses 1957 World Plowing matches
Lead Summary
By
John Kellis-
The Highland County Historical Society hosted the second presentation focusing on agriculture Thursday, July 28 at the Highland House Museum in Hillsboro.
Members discussed holding the presentation at a larger venue, but wanted this audience to visit the museum and it worked well as many guests commented on the museum and talked about visiting when they can look around at their leisure.
“We set up every chair we had in the museum and there were at least 20 people standing in doorways and the Museum Shop to enjoy the program,” said Vicki Knauff,” museum director. “I was afraid that we might exceed the capacity of our room and we probably did.
The audience agreed that the society should consider asking John Wickerham back later this fall or next spring to reprise the presentation. The comment was made that the Mootz family could have filled the room by themselves if they chose to do so. The crowd of about 90 people brought memorabilia and talked from the minute they started arriving at 6 p.m. until they left the Highland House at around 10 p.m.
The Mootz family brought the renovated tractor and plow that their father, Duane Mootz, used to win the National Contour Plowing event that year in Peebles.
More than one person brought framed copies of a panoramic picture of the 1957 event, including Naomi (Mootz) Barnett, who was identifying faces in the picture with Wickerham of the Adams County Historical Society after the meeting.
Several other Mootz brothers brought signs and trophies that Duane had won and photos of the event.
“It’s hard to believe I was 12 when I attended it with my dad and grandfather,” said society member John Levo. “Tonight, it brought back memories like the model house, the big steer, the Air Force Band, the wagon tour and all the farm equipment that I couldn’t understand why we didn’t have any of it on our farm.”
Naomi and the family corrected us in our pre-meeting article in that their father competed the next year’s world event in Germany – not in Ireland. That was the kind of night it was, everyone sharing their memories and accounts of those for days in September of 1957 in a small town in northern Adams County that hosted the world and left a “Cairn of Peace” monument commemorating the event. “Cairn” is a manmade pile of stones used to lead people on their journey as documented in the Bible and used in the mountains and plains through history. The plow atop the monument of stones was to signify the coming together in peace those who turned the earth to grow food and fiber around the world. One of those monuments stands today in Peebles, having been moved there from the roadside to ensure its maintenance.
Mr. Wickerham took the audience through a journey of how the event came to be and the people who banded together to make it possible. He encouraged the audience to share their memories and the group was very willing to do just that.
The society worked to collect pictures and clippings into a PowerPoint presentation that John used to great effect, show pictures of the 33,000 parking places needed. He also documented the conditions that faced the organizers, such as the fact there was no water system in rural Adams County at the time. Traffic was backed up for miles and miles in all directions on the narrow two-lane roads of the time.
One comment was there were cars and buses backed up 10 miles north of Sinking Spring on Route 41. Special trains were traveling to and from Cincinnati to the event, and International Harvester built and expanded an airstrip along S.R. 73 near Locust Grove because their corporate DC-3 had no place to land. They shuttled their dignitaries to and from Cincinnati so they could stay in the hotels there. The Highway Patrol would halt traffic on 73 when aircraft were landing; and it was said at the height of the event, there were landings at the rate of one per minute.
The area residents dedicated 2,500 acres to the event on 16 farms. Everyone welcomed people to their homes so thousands could stay there at the site before and after the actual four days. New water lines were run from Peebles to service the event, and the entire community helped feed the visitors.
Displays at the event included: daily concerts by the U.S. Army Bands, fashion shows for the ladies by JC Penny, trick trap-shooting events, the North American Sheep Herding competition, agriculture machinery displays showing combines – there were probably none at the time in Adams County.
The Ohio governor and the secretary of Agriculture were at the event. They helped the local conservation agencies show off the new conservation technology being adopted so soon after the Dust Bowl. Two, 2.5-mile wagon tours showed off pond construction, tree and wildlife plantings, pasture management practices, crop variety trials and of course the new tractors and combines being brought to the farm.
Mr. Wickerham discussed the “Queen of the Furrow” Anne Lane, and the fact that counties all around the state held pageants to choose girls to compete for the title, including Highland County’s entrant, Virginia Purdy, who was in the audience Thursday evening.
The presentation moved to the plowing event and Hillsboro’s own Duane Mootz who was a well-known plowman of the time. Duane’s family shared many elements of their dad’s plowing expertise, and even described how the contour plowing differed from straight line level land plowing. They shared that contour plowing was not a part of the European events so Duane was invited to compete the next year as one of the two plowmen invited to Germany along with Mr. Lawrence Goettemoeller, winner of the level-land contest in Peebles.
“Most of the people I talked to said they had always wanted to stop and tour the Highland House, and all of those people commented how they enjoyed the presentation as well as the opportunity to go through the museum,” said Tim Mootz.
He and his brothers shared stories on the museum lawn beside the log cabin and the tractor and plow they brought for the event.
The crowd was invited to look around and enjoy refreshments after the presentation. The “Barns of Highland County” exhibit was still in the museum until Sunday and Jim Gorman’s farm toy and barn exhibit was also in the museum.
This was the second in a series of agriculture-related subjects following the Century Farms article and presentation. The next “Focus on Agriculture” subjects will be about the history of the Highland County Fair and the rich History of the stockyards of Hillsboro and Highland County. The agriculture committee would entertain ideas to keep the conversation ongoing. Feel free to contact John Kellis, John Levo, Jim Faust or Avery Applegate.
Members discussed holding the presentation at a larger venue, but wanted this audience to visit the museum and it worked well as many guests commented on the museum and talked about visiting when they can look around at their leisure.
“We set up every chair we had in the museum and there were at least 20 people standing in doorways and the Museum Shop to enjoy the program,” said Vicki Knauff,” museum director. “I was afraid that we might exceed the capacity of our room and we probably did.
The audience agreed that the society should consider asking John Wickerham back later this fall or next spring to reprise the presentation. The comment was made that the Mootz family could have filled the room by themselves if they chose to do so. The crowd of about 90 people brought memorabilia and talked from the minute they started arriving at 6 p.m. until they left the Highland House at around 10 p.m.
The Mootz family brought the renovated tractor and plow that their father, Duane Mootz, used to win the National Contour Plowing event that year in Peebles.
More than one person brought framed copies of a panoramic picture of the 1957 event, including Naomi (Mootz) Barnett, who was identifying faces in the picture with Wickerham of the Adams County Historical Society after the meeting.
Several other Mootz brothers brought signs and trophies that Duane had won and photos of the event.
“It’s hard to believe I was 12 when I attended it with my dad and grandfather,” said society member John Levo. “Tonight, it brought back memories like the model house, the big steer, the Air Force Band, the wagon tour and all the farm equipment that I couldn’t understand why we didn’t have any of it on our farm.”
Naomi and the family corrected us in our pre-meeting article in that their father competed the next year’s world event in Germany – not in Ireland. That was the kind of night it was, everyone sharing their memories and accounts of those for days in September of 1957 in a small town in northern Adams County that hosted the world and left a “Cairn of Peace” monument commemorating the event. “Cairn” is a manmade pile of stones used to lead people on their journey as documented in the Bible and used in the mountains and plains through history. The plow atop the monument of stones was to signify the coming together in peace those who turned the earth to grow food and fiber around the world. One of those monuments stands today in Peebles, having been moved there from the roadside to ensure its maintenance.
Mr. Wickerham took the audience through a journey of how the event came to be and the people who banded together to make it possible. He encouraged the audience to share their memories and the group was very willing to do just that.
The society worked to collect pictures and clippings into a PowerPoint presentation that John used to great effect, show pictures of the 33,000 parking places needed. He also documented the conditions that faced the organizers, such as the fact there was no water system in rural Adams County at the time. Traffic was backed up for miles and miles in all directions on the narrow two-lane roads of the time.
One comment was there were cars and buses backed up 10 miles north of Sinking Spring on Route 41. Special trains were traveling to and from Cincinnati to the event, and International Harvester built and expanded an airstrip along S.R. 73 near Locust Grove because their corporate DC-3 had no place to land. They shuttled their dignitaries to and from Cincinnati so they could stay in the hotels there. The Highway Patrol would halt traffic on 73 when aircraft were landing; and it was said at the height of the event, there were landings at the rate of one per minute.
The area residents dedicated 2,500 acres to the event on 16 farms. Everyone welcomed people to their homes so thousands could stay there at the site before and after the actual four days. New water lines were run from Peebles to service the event, and the entire community helped feed the visitors.
Displays at the event included: daily concerts by the U.S. Army Bands, fashion shows for the ladies by JC Penny, trick trap-shooting events, the North American Sheep Herding competition, agriculture machinery displays showing combines – there were probably none at the time in Adams County.
The Ohio governor and the secretary of Agriculture were at the event. They helped the local conservation agencies show off the new conservation technology being adopted so soon after the Dust Bowl. Two, 2.5-mile wagon tours showed off pond construction, tree and wildlife plantings, pasture management practices, crop variety trials and of course the new tractors and combines being brought to the farm.
Mr. Wickerham discussed the “Queen of the Furrow” Anne Lane, and the fact that counties all around the state held pageants to choose girls to compete for the title, including Highland County’s entrant, Virginia Purdy, who was in the audience Thursday evening.
The presentation moved to the plowing event and Hillsboro’s own Duane Mootz who was a well-known plowman of the time. Duane’s family shared many elements of their dad’s plowing expertise, and even described how the contour plowing differed from straight line level land plowing. They shared that contour plowing was not a part of the European events so Duane was invited to compete the next year as one of the two plowmen invited to Germany along with Mr. Lawrence Goettemoeller, winner of the level-land contest in Peebles.
“Most of the people I talked to said they had always wanted to stop and tour the Highland House, and all of those people commented how they enjoyed the presentation as well as the opportunity to go through the museum,” said Tim Mootz.
He and his brothers shared stories on the museum lawn beside the log cabin and the tractor and plow they brought for the event.
The crowd was invited to look around and enjoy refreshments after the presentation. The “Barns of Highland County” exhibit was still in the museum until Sunday and Jim Gorman’s farm toy and barn exhibit was also in the museum.
This was the second in a series of agriculture-related subjects following the Century Farms article and presentation. The next “Focus on Agriculture” subjects will be about the history of the Highland County Fair and the rich History of the stockyards of Hillsboro and Highland County. The agriculture committee would entertain ideas to keep the conversation ongoing. Feel free to contact John Kellis, John Levo, Jim Faust or Avery Applegate.