When the Whitewater Historical Society hosts its grand re-opening of the Whitewater Passenger Depot building, a local treasure will be on display for the first time in decades.
The Esterly Seeder, an agricultural machine made at the Esterly Manufacturing Company in the 1870s, is back in Whitewater after a long “vacation” in Cassville.
The historical society is inviting the public to see this unusual artifact from 1-5 p.m. on Sunday, April 28, at the depot, 301 W. Whitewater Street, when the building is rededicated during an afternoon of community activities.
Just when the Whitewater Historical Society acquired the seeder and how it came to be located at the Agricultural Museum at Stonefield Village in Cassville for 50 years was a question put to historical society president Ellen Penwell, who is also the Curator of Artifacts at Old World Wisconsin, a sister museum to Stonefield Village.
“When I became involved in the Society in the mid-2000s, I heard stories of the Esterly Seeder. I learned it had been loaned to Stonefield years ago and decided to investigate,” she said.
Penwell explained a farmer in Michigan donated the seeder to the Whitewater Historical Society in 1957. Chester Lawton and Fred Bromley, members of the Historical Society, drove to Michigan and picked up the machine.
At that time, the historical society did not have an appropriate place to display such a large piece of equipment. In 1960, when the Wisconsin Historical Society offered to exhibit the seeder at Stonefield Village, the Whitewater organization agreed to a 10-year loan. But, the loan was never renewed and there was no formal communication between the historical society and Stonefield.
After 45 years, Penwell said, “the seeder had been classified as abandoned property and the Wisconsin Historical Society had assumed its ownership.”
Penwell documented the Whitewater Historical Society’s original ownership of the seeder and presented the evidence to the Wisconsin Historical Society’s collections committee, of which she is also a member.
After asking for the seeder to be returned to Whitewater, Penwell recused herself from the discussion and vote.
“The evidence of our ownership of the seeder proved overwhelming and the committee voted to grant our request,” she said. “We now maintain all the proper forms regulating standard collections management.”
In September of 2011, Bruce Parker, former director of Neighborhood Services for the City of Whitewater, drove the seeder back to Whitewater in a covered trailer.
Penwell says it is wonderful to have the seeder back in Whitewater because “it is the only known example in our area of an agricultural machine made by the Esterly Harvesting Machine Company, a prolific and economically important Whitewater manufacturer in the 1870s and 1880s.”
Penwell added that the seeder will remain on display in the depot for a while, as the historical society works to install their updated local history gallery. Then, the seeder will be housed in the nearby Stone Stable building.
The historic outbuilding is a “fitting structure for the interpretation of Whitewater’s early agricultural and industrial history,” said Penwell.
The lowdown
The Whitewater Historical Society is planning a grand re-opening event for its Depot Museum from 1-5 p.m. on Sunday, April 28.
The event will feature a building dedication, music, food, activities and more.
The long-awaited renovation of the building was completed between July and December of 2012.
The $400,000 renovation was funded by a federal grant through the Transportation Enhancement Grants Program, which helps renovate historic transportation-related buildings, and was administered by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation and the City of Whitewater.
Local matching funds were provided by the City of Whitewater and a fund-raising campaign conducted by the Historical Society.
