Nebraska Museum Acquires 1919 Holt Combine

Nebraska Museum Acquires 1919 Holt Combine In 2014, FARM SHOW ran a story (Vol. 38, No. 2) about Bob Grimm of Rapid City, S.D., restoring a 1919 Holt combine to immaculate running condition. Grimm demonstrated the machine at various events over the years and, in 2024, donated it to the Legacy of Plains Museum in Gering, Neb. Museum director Bob Wolf says having the Holt in their collection is important because its permanent home is now very close to where its original owner, Ole Olson, used it for several years. Ole’s son Arthur says his dad bought the Holt from its California manufacturer in the early 1900s and had it shipped by rail to Bushnell, Neb. From there, his dad drove the machine 17 miles at about 2 mph to their farm near Harrisburg. Arthur says the machine was state-of-the-art, with a 24-ft. grain-cutting platform. However, Ole didn’t think the header was large enough, so he rebuilt it 4 ft. wider. Olson used the machine for several years before it sat idle and was eventually sold to a new owner in Alliance, Neb. Grimm discovered it there in 1974 and bought it for just $400. The platform had disintegrated—its wood was gone, and most of the metal parts had been sold for scrap. Grimm’s son Mike says he and his dad made a few repairs and then parked it in a shed that his dad built for it. It sat for 10 years until Bob Grimm retired and decided it was time to restore the combine. They needed reference materials to rebuild the machine, so Bob and Mike visited an antique club in Bird City, Kan., to see a restored Holt displayed there. They took photos and measurements of the header to use when making parts for their machine. Bob spent one winter building the header and another working on the harvester and chassis. The restored machine was demonstrated at Nebraska’s Central States Fair in 2002 and 2003. Mike says that even though the machine was 90 years old, it did a decent job, and visitors were impressed. One of those visitors was Bob Mueller, a board member of the Legacy Museum. Mueller asked Grimm if the harvester might someday be for sale and, if so, if the museum could buy it. They eventually reached an agreement, and now the 106-year-old machine has a permanent new home. Wolf says the Holt combine is a valuable addition to the museum because it’s close to where it used to work and where descendants of the Olson family live. The museum hopes to have it working each summer to demonstrate how mechanical threshing was done more than 100 years ago. Legacy of the Plains is an impressive Museum with an 80-acre working farm, historic farmstead structures and an extensive collection of artifacts, antique tractors and farm implements. The combine will help them preserve their area’s history, including the Panhandle of Nebraska, portions of eastern Wyoming and northern Kansas. Mike Grimm says he’ll be happy to be there to operate the machine his father spent many hours restoring. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Legacy of the Plains Museum, 2930 Old Oregon Trail, Gering, Neb. 69341 (ph 308-436-1689; info@legacyoftheplains.org; www.legacyoftheplains.org).

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