HESSTON STEAM MUSEUM’S
55th LABOR DAY WEEKEND STEAM & POWER SHOW
FAMILY FUN: SIMPLE, AFFORDABLE & CLOSE TO HOME!
 
HESSTON, IND. – The Hesston Steam Museum – a special place known for preserving history – now celebrates its own important milestone! The Hesston Steam Museum will host its 55th Annual Labor Day Weekend Steam & Power Show for four days, from Friday, Sept. 2 through Monday, September 5.

 

Fifty-five years! That’s 1956, when Elvis topped the charts with “Hound Dog,” “Don’t Be Cruel” and “Blue Suede Shoes.” Rock and roll was becoming a national phenomenon. Ed Sullivan was tops on television and Dwight Eisenhower was just beginning his second term as president!

 

Hesston Steam Museum actually traces its roots back to 1952 when area resident John Edris purchased a steam-powered tractor.  Soon, he and others were collecting them on 22 acres that Edris owned. By 1956 and 1957, the collectors had dressed up the property and the tractors and were inviting area residents to come see them. The group purchased a turn-of-the-century sawmill in 1959 and the collection truly started rolling with the first purchase of a steam locomotive in 1964, courtesy of Chicago’s Elliott Donnelly, R.R. Donnelly and Sons.

 

Today, the Hesston Steam Museum’s four-day Labor Day Steam Show attracts as many as 12,000 visitors from nearby Chicago, Northern Indiana and Southwestern Michigan. It ranks as one of Indiana’s TOP 10 festivals and was named by Northwest Indiana Business as one of the region’s “Top 10 Must-See” locations!*

 

Ted Rita is general manager at The Hesston Steam Museum.

 

“The museum has definitely come out of its infancy. Once just considered a ‘club,’ we have made strides to take the campus to the next level,” he says. “We have many important steam-powered artifacts – with many more in the restoration process.”

 

“With 55 years behind us, the museum itself is starting to become a historical artifact,” he continues. “Today, when our volunteers work in the shop or rebuild equipment already restored on these grounds, they see signs of our past volunteers’ efforts,” he says. “It actually connects each generation of volunteers. Our visitors also now can see these magnificent machines and connect with the past. We invite everyone to see what our volunteers have done. It’s incredible.”

 

If it steams . . . it will be running! Hesston will be literally “fired up” to operate…

 

… Kiddieland Express steam engine from Chicago’s former Kiddieland Amusement Park
… 1929 narrow-gauge Shay logging locomotive
… a rare, turn-of-the-century steam-powered saw mill with a 60-inch diameter blade
… a steam-powered light plant for the LaPorte County (Ind.) courthouse
… the “Blue Goose” engine that once pulled visitors around Chicago’s Brookfield Zoo.
… lots of early 1900s steam tractors and even a steam-power popcorn machine!
… 92-ton steam crane
 
Hesston Steam Museum’s ANNUAL LABOR DAY STEAM SHOW also features:
- rides in a unique railroad inspection car!
- the world’s largest mobile toy train layout!
- acres of flea market finds (antiques, arts & crafts and railroad memorabilia)
- Elephant ears, pizza, burgers & brats
- spacious picnic grounds
- Hesston Steam Museum gift shop

 

Hesston Steam Museum’s 55th ANNUAL LABOR DAY STEAM SHOW will run Sept. Friday, Sept. 2 through Monday, Sept. 5. Show hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (C.S.T.)
 
ADMISSION to the grounds is $5 for adults. Children 12 and under are free.
 
TRAIN FARES are $5 for adults and $3.00 for kids 12 and under. FRIDAY is Senior Day with half-price admission and half-price rides for all seniors!
 
TAKE I-94 TO EXIT ONE, SOUTH TO COUNTY RD 1000 NORTH OR TAKE THE INDIANA TOLL ROAD TO EXIT 49, NORTH ON 139 TO COUNTY RD 1000 NORTH AND FOLLOW THE SIGNS.
 
RAIN OR SHINE! PLENTY OF FREE PARKING!
 
The 55th Annual Hesston Steam & Power Show is presented by the Hesston Steam Museum, a not-for-profit organization / 501-3 c corporation. All the fun starts at 10 a.m. (C.S.T.) and continues until 5 p.m., Friday through Labor Day. For more info, visit www.hesston.org.

 

*Northwest Indiana Business Quarterly, Summer-Fall 2010 edition