Tractor and Car Dealers

There were two farm implement dealers in the town, selling International and John Deere equipment respectively. Both were thriving enterprises then, now they are completely gone. The John Deere dealer was also the Chevrolet and Hudson/Essex dealer. In 1988 after the Strand family reunion, Jean and I did some genealogical research at the office of the Gowrie News, looking through old issues of obituaries. By chance I noticed an advertisement for Hart-Parr tractors to be sold through the John Deere/Chevrolet agency. It turned out that my uncle Carl was listed in the ad as the agent for the Hart-Parr company. This was a facet of uncle Carl’s dealings with Hart-Parr tractors that I was quite unaware of until then.

I recall being in the dim interior of the car repair section of the Chevrolet garage — one of the mechanics was Ernie Anderson who drove the school bus as a sideline for a time when we were living on the Peterson farm. He was an uncle of Harlan Anderson who lived next door to us on the farm for some years. Harlan went to Fort Dodge junior college one of the years I attended so I got to know him well. Harlan’s parents were Carl and Nellie Anderson, two of the nicest people I think I have ever known.

I have another vivid recollection of the Chevrolet garage. Once when I was I suppose 7 or 8 years old I was pulling our play wagon past the garage apparently on the way between the little brown house and my grandmother’s. The wheels of the wagon were squeaking loudly. One of the individuals sitting on the bench outside the garage adjacent the sidewalk engaged me in conversation about the squeaking. Apparently he was a mechanic on a break from his work because he couldn’t stand the squeaking, went in the garage for an oil can and oiled the wheels.