Floyd County Museum hosts a commemorative presentation for closed tractor plant

By Travis Fischer, tkfischer@charlescitypress.com

Tractor enthusiasts, history buffs and former employees visited the Floyd County Museum on Friday, Aug. 4, to reminisce about Hart Parr/Oliver/White Farm Plant, 30 years after its closure.

Going through several owners and names over the years, the Charles City-based tractor plant was the economic centerpiece of the city for many years, at one point employing around 3,000 people.

“Everybody had somebody there. It was a very influential part of Charles City,” said Dean Tjaden, a museum board member and former employee of White Farm Equipment.

Tjaden, who started working at the plant fresh out of college in 1974, held several positions in the factory over the years until its closure in 1993. Since then, he has regularly spoken to tractor collectors and similar groups over the years about the history of the plant.

To commemorate the 30th anniversary of the closing, the museum asked Tjaden to give his presentation for the community, slightly adjusted to account for the fact that several people in the audience had also spent decades working in the plant.

Sharing photos and documents collected over the years, Tjaden told stories and discussed details about the plant’s history from its origins with Charles Hart and Charles Parr to its final days in operation.

“It was very interesting,” said Gary Quint, a local resident who attended the presentation. “I liked to see the history of it. It was fun to hear the stories about what it used to be.”

Today, the Floyd County Museum has become a hub of information about the tractor plant and the farm equipment it produced, providing documents and manuals for the now antique machines to collectors around the world.

“It’s truly a facility that teaches people from around the world,” said Tjaden. “I don’t think a lot of local people realize the impact we have.”