ABOUT
Hardin County Farm Museum - preserving the past, for the future.
The Hardin County Farm Museum was founded in 1996 by a group of local farmers who were passionate about preserving the memories of a time passed for future generations. Now a nonprofit organization run by a Board of Directors, the picturesque 20 acre Museum site includes a dairy barn that showcases the vast collection of donated farm tools and antiques that tell the story of bygone days. The barn also houses a meeting room for over 100 people, and the barn loft is the perfect spot for country dances. The museum grounds also include the Goose Creek Country School, the former Ellis Methodist Church, and various outbuildings and machine sheds housing the enormous collection of tractors and farm machinery.
The Hardin County Farm Museum offers the opportunity to experience our agricultural heritage. The focus is on the equipment, agricultural practices, life styles, and history of Hardin County farm families before 1950, who worked this land when farms were diversified, before the use of the large scale, self-propelled modern equipment.
Enjoy the festivals and experience firsthand working in the field, old time music and home style meals of yesteryear. Spend time reliving the good old days inside the one room Goose Creek Schoolhouse, the Ellis Country Church, and the dairy barn.
The Hardin County Farm Museum is a tribute to the American spirit. It is about family, country, hard work and respect for our agricultural traditions.
Yearly events at the museum include:
Pancake Breakfasts served inside the barn on the 1st Saturday of each month, May, June, July, September, October from 7:00 – 9:30 am. Cost is a free-will donation.
Threshing Festival and Power Show is the last full weekend in July as a two day event. Admission to the festival is free. A pancake breakfast and Thresher’s Noon Dinner are served both days as fundraising events. Join the volunteers in the field as they thresh the bundles of oats the old-fashioned way and bale the straw. Enjoy the schedule of events which may include a historical presentation, lesson or spelling bee in the one-room school, a concert or hymn sing in the old country church, crafts, Bingo, and more. Visit the farm animals in the petting barn or try the kid's games/activities outside. Lastly, take a walk through farming history with the Power and Tractor Show and the various buildings full of historical rural iowa artifacts.
Greenbelt Tractorcade is the third Saturday in August. A pancake breakfast is served from 7:00 – 9:30 am and everyone is welcome. Cost is free will donation. Tractor drivers are welcome to register and join in the ride which leaves the museum grounds at 9:30 am. The public is encouraged to view the tractors and see them off on their ride. Typically the ride goes a different 40 mile round trip route each year winding through the beautiful back roads of rural Hardin County, Iowa. The Iowa River runs through and is a beautiful backdrop for many of the routes. A lunch stop is planned and lunch is served to the drivers by the museum volunteers.
Harvest Moon Supper and Barn Dance is the first Saturday in October. Start the evening out by joining us for supper from 5:00 – 7:00 pm. The supper is by free will donation and is the last fundraiser of the year.
The barn dance is held in the loft of the barn and features a local country music band. Enjoy dancing the night away the old fashioned way in the dairy barn of the Hardin County Farm Museum.