Areas of the Reunion
Attractions & Areas of Interest
"The Smile Machine" Carousel
Take a ride on the beautiful, fully restored antique carousel. Listen to the music of the Military Band Organ and feel the movement of the rocking horses. Pick out your favorite horse and match the crest on its chest with the name on the wall. "The Smile Machine" is powered by a Herschell-Spillman steam engine that dates back over a century.
Antique Cars & Trucks
The antique cars and trucks are a popular attraction at Old Threshers. You will find them cruising around the grounds in beautiful splendor during the Reunion or can stop by the car building to take a closer look. The Southeast Iowa Car Club will be on hand to tell you about the internal workings of the autos and how they carefully restored their beauties.
Demonstrations
Take a look at how things were done in the days of old. You will find many different demonstrations on the grounds during the Old Threshers Reunion. The horse area has horse-powered treadmill, horse-powered threshing, and horse harnessing. The tractor area has a corn sheller in operation, belt-driven dynamometer, Baker fan demonstrations, and tractor pulls.
The traction steam area balances a steam engine on a teeterboard, scale model sawmill, shingle mill in operation, and boiler and steam cylinder explanation. The gas engine area shows rock crushing and corn grinding demonstrations. The Log Village has woodshop and blacksmith shop demonstrations, plus many more happenings all over the grounds.
Drive-A-Tractor
Many people who visit Midwest Old Threshers have never experienced life on a farm. What was once a common way of life is now a memory to only the older visitor. Making its debut at the 2001 Reunion, the exhibit features tractors that have been modified with a kill switch and low-throttle speed and gears.
Visitors of all ages can feel what it is like behind the wheel of a tractor. The safety person riding with each visitor can easily reach the kill switch, master clutch, and handbrake, making it a fun and safe experience.
This exhibit is free to do!
Antique Gas Engines
The large gas engine exhibit area has over 600 gas engines on display. See the many different styles, sizes, and uses for these powerful machines. Be sure to stop by and discover the role they played in our history, from rock crushing to running washing machines and much more.
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Heritage Museums
Take a walk through the Richard Oetken Heritage Museum. See Traction Steam Engines: The Golden Age of Threshing in Iowa, Family Farm House, Women Partners on the Land, Peterson Farm, American Farm Implements, Marvin Mill, Changing Seasons – Farmall Grows America, Electricity - Comes to the Farm, Rural Fire House and Gas Station, and Water: Too Little...Too Much.
Horses
The Old Threshers Reunion has many horses displaying their incredible might and beauty. Belgians, Percherons, mules, and many other teams show how they were a vital part of farming and daily work in years gone by. Their strength is shown off daily in the Cavalcade of Power by pulling a variety of old wagons and buggies, threshing grain, baling hay, shelling corn, and plowing.
Be sure to see the horse-powered threshing and sawmill in action. The horse barn is also the site for popular demonstrations like harnessing a team, shoeing a horse, and much more.
Log Village
Grab a trolley ride down to the Log Village and step back in time. As you stroll through an 1856 village with the Kossuth House, the Cassidy House, the one-room Oak Ridge School, a sawn-log barn, a public house, and an outhouse, you will feel like you have traveled into another era.
All of the villagers are dressed in period costumes, cooking meals over an open fire, giving blacksmith demonstrations, dipping candles, playing games, and making you feel welcome. The villagers are members of the #1846 Explorer Post. You can also check out a medicine man show for all your aches and pains.
Midwest Central Railroad
Take a ride around the 1.25-mile loop around the Reunion show grounds. Trains depart from the North Station at the north end of the grounds in the North Village and from the MCRR Museum and Education Center north of Heritage Museum B.
Round-trip tickets are $5.00 per person (ages 4 and under free).
Learn more about the Midwest Central Railroad at www.mcrr.org
Midwest Electric Railway
Take a ride on the Midwest Electric Railway to the 1850s Log Village or back to your camper. The 1.25-mile loop around the campground has five stops. Round-trip tickets are $3.00 per person (ages 6 and under free). Tickets can be purchased at the Yarmouth Depot, located south of Museum A.
North Village
North Village gives the feeling of the Old West. As you stroll down the street, take a look at the Pleasant Lawn School, Center Chapel Church, bank, blacksmith shop, U.S. Post Office, jail, and quilt shop. But be careful — you might get caught up in a gunfight, bank robbery, or train holdup from the local gunslingers.
Make sure you stop by the saloon for a cold drink and be entertained by the Saloon Singers. Before you catch the train out of town, do not forget to buy a pickle on a stick, get some taffy, candy, and souvenirs at the general store.
Printers Hall
The Printers' Hall exhibit follows a historic timeline of printing from the time the first settlers crossed the Mississippi. The exhibit includes an 1870s hand press, various kinds of platen presses, cylinder presses, as well as handset type. Printers' Hall is the home of the "Threshers Bee Newspaper," first printed at the 2006 Reunion.
Stationary Steam
The powerhouse of Stationary Steam Engines was developed to demonstrate the vital role steam engines played in America’s workplace. Some of the steam engines in this display were used in locker plants, blacksmith shops, distilleries, and hospitals.
The exhibit offers working examples of diesel-powered engines and the Wilkie Machine Tool Exhibit, which is powered by a line shaft from a Peerless steam engine.
Theatre Museum
In a time almost forgotten, troupes of performers criss-crossed rural America presenting repertoire theatre. From the 1850s to the 1950s, five generations reveled in the clean fun and sociable respite offered by these traveling companies. These versatile troupes entertained audiences with comedy, farce, Broadway hits, adapted classics, and suspenseful mysteries in settings that ranged from small-town opera houses to empty-lot tent theatres.
Years ago, Neil & Caroline Schaffner started collecting memorabilia from this era of theatrical history. It was from this seed collection and the generosity of the Midwest Old Settlers and Threshers Association, Inc. that this remarkable museum was created in 1973 at the crossroads of the Midwest in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. Since then, hundreds of troupers and their families have donated artifacts to make this amazing theatrical collection one of the largest of its kind in the United States.
Learn more about the Theatre Museum at www.thetheatremuseum.com
Traction Steam Engines
The traction steam engines line the grounds during the Old Threshers Reunion. There are over 75 working steam engines fired up and showing off their strength. We also feature around 50 steam engines on display in the Heritage Museum year-round for visitors. If you are lucky, you may even get a ride on one of the many steam engines during the Reunion.
During the Old Threshers Reunion, you can find traction steam engines working at the sawmill, threshing demonstrations, shingle mill, steam engine pulls, veneer mill, prony brake, Baker fans, and the great steam engine games.
Antique Tractors
Over 1,000 antique tractors are on display during the Old Threshers Reunion, which features a different brand of tractor each year. Tractor pulls, corn shelling and grinding, threshing, veneer mill, Baker fans, the dynamometer, and baling demonstrations are just some of the fun activities featured with the tractors during the Reunion.