Heartland Community College celebrated the culmination of a three-year project to bring a piece of history to the college’s Ag Complex.
The Heartland Community College Agriculture Complex is the new home to an antique piece of farming equipment. Dave Bishop, part-time faculty in Agriculture, and pioneer in the development of HCC’s Regenerative Agriculture certificate, donated his family’s 1927 McCormick-Deering tractor for display, representing the transition from horse power to machine power.
The “10-20” was owned by Bishop’s grandfather, who passed away when Bishop was 5 years old. It sat in a shed on his family farm from 1955 to 2021 until students in agriculture engineering courses at Lincoln Community High School (LCHS) gave it a second life.
The restoration process began in 2021 under the direction of agriculture educator and FFA coach, Allison Bode. Joe’s Towing transported the tractor from the farm near East Peoria to Lincoln where students disassembled the tractor and sandblasted the individual parts.
In 2023, agriculture educator and FFA advisor Molly Schempp took over supervision of the project. Students replaced broken bolts and made minor repairs as they pieced the tractor back together. Enlisting the help of LCHS metal fabrication students, Schempp’s class re-fabricated the rusted fenders. They then prepped the tractor for paint and hosted a painting workshop for interested agriculture students. Students used a rust-converting paint with UV protectant to ensure that the tractor wouldn’t fade in direct sunlight.
HCC’s Agriculture Complex showcases the antique tractor in the ultra-modern setting of the HCC Ag Complex, illustrating the past, present, and future of the agriculture industry in Central Illinois.
“The ’10-20’ we have in this display transitioned Dave Bishop’s grandfather from one age to another, bringing technology to the family farm,” said Heartland Community College Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Rick Pearce. “We thank Dave for sharing not only a piece of agricultural history but his own family history with the college and our students. And we thank the students and staff of LCHS for all the hard work they put in to restore this tractor into a showpiece for the next generation.”
The tractor is placed in front of Heartland’s 29,500 square foot Ag Complex facility located on the west side of the main Heartland campus on Raab Road in Normal. The Complex and outside growing labs, which support agriculture programs at the College, opened in January of 2024.
