The official Tri-State Antique Engine and Thresher Association

06/17/2026

Time to make your July 3rd & 4th plans! If you plan to bring a tractor for the parade, we will leave the showgrounds at 10:30.

06/16/2026

06/13/2026

Another installment of Made in America, particularly, Made in the Tri-state area. This Miller Disc was built in Stratton Nebraska

1940 - Oscar E. Miller began production of his rod-weeder with semi-chisels which he had invented in 1938 while experimenting with stubble-mulch tillage. The first Miller Weeder factory was located a half block west of Bailey Street along the highway.

1960 - The current Miller Weeder factory was built east of Stratton and the company was incorporated. The company manufactured rod-weeders, basin tillers, lister dammers, feed grinders, tractor guides, and stubble punchers for customers from Texas to North Dakota and Canada. The factory employed approximately 30 people throughout the year. Oscar retired in 1967 and his son, Warren, continued to operate the business until 1976

Late 1970’s - Miller Manufacturing Company built a second manufacturing plant in Grand Island, Nebraska, to help build the wide line of Miller discs and later the silo-press. The company also built a truck facility in Stratton to service and house its trucking fleet. Both the Stratton and Grand Island factories employed over 100 people and sold Miller products throughout the United States, Canada, and several other foreign countries

Copied from, https://www.strattonnebraska.com/vnews/display.v/SEC/Business%20%26%20Rec%7CHistory

06/12/2026

New guest exhibit at the Thresher Show featuring the Western Cattle Trail. Including Cattle shoulder blades with pen and ink drawings of plains animals by local artist. These items will be on display in the Visitor Center through October. Stop by anytime. We are open Tuesday through Saturday 10-4.
Thank you Don Hickert for allowing us to share your collection.
Western Kansas was wide open with few settlers in the early years of trail driving, but that part of the state was not uninhabited. This was the home of the Plains Indians. The buffalo herds blackened the prairies with their uncountable numbers. All this changed drastically in a matter of a few years, and, at the same time, Texans were looking north to trail their cattle. The transition from Indian villages to homesteads, from buffalo herds to cattle herds is a monumental event in our Plains history that cannot be overlooked.

06/10/2026

Angell's one-way disc plow was enthusiastically received by farmers and became the most commonly used tillage implement on the plains from the 1930s through the 1960s. It helped to make Kansas the leading wheat-producing state in the nation and the plains the "bread basket for the world."

On the negative side, however, some historians have listed the one-way plow as a contributing cause of the dust bowl. Because its discs thoroughly pulverized the soil, the ground was more susceptible to blowing.

For good or bad, no one can deny that the one-way disc plow has had a major impact on agriculture in the plains region. And it all began as an idea in the mind of Kansas farmer Charlie Angell.

We are pleased to have one of the Angell One Way Plows here at the Thresher Show and it will be displayed July 30-Aug 1 along with other machines produced in the tri-state area to commemorate America's 250.

06/03/2026

Meet our two fantastic Nex-Generation summer interns. Tevin and Landyn started last week and have already completed several projects. It seems like all I have to do is mention that they might like to do something and when I turn around they have it done! Today we cleaned and painted some tractor parts, Reassembled the loader cylinders with new packing and seals, and repaired and replaced fasteners in a couple of our buildings. They are
learning many new skills.
Program manager, Howard

05/11/2026

1979 Tractorcade, a piece of history that should be remembered. Did you know that board member Gerald Wright participated in Tractorcade?

Explore the Per Aspera Podcast and Kansas' complex history through immersive audio storytelling including Episode 3 about the Febraury 1979 “Tractorcade” where you meet Beverly Snyder of Edwards County, the only woman to drive a tractor by herself to Washington D.C. Link in comments.

04/26/2026

We have a new video to share from the 1965 Thresher Show. This is a 16mm film taken by Peter Reichert back in 1965. Enjoy!

1965 Show Film

03/06/2026

The spring semi annual membership meeting is tomorrow, Saturday, March 7th, at 10:00am. If you can't join us in person, we can send you a Zoom link to join online.