Larsen Tractor Test & Power Museum

The Lester F Larsen Tractor Test & Power Museum

In 1918, Nebraska farmer W. F. Crozier from Osceola in Polk county bought a tractor. When that tractor—the Ford B— (our mascot and not made by the Henry Ford Co.) didn’t live up to its advertised claims, he and fellow State Senator Charles Warner decided to ensure that all farmers would get a fair deal when buying any model of tractor sold in Nebraska.

Under their leadership, the Nebraska Tractor Test Law was passed in 1919 to ensure that tractor manufacturers met their advertised claims of tractor performance. At the same time, the legislature established a facility for tractor testing on the campus of the University of Nebraska.

The Nebraska Tractor Test Laboratory is known around the world as the leader in tractor testing and is the only one of its kind in the United States. The Lester F. Larsen Tractor Test & Power Museum is housed in the original Nebraska Tractor Test facility on the East Campus of the University of Nebraska in Lincoln.

The building was declared an historic landmark by the American Society of Agricultural Engineers and dedicated as a museum in 1980.

A tour of the museum (pdf) The tour includes a photo of the building taken in the 1940's including 1940's vehicles. Kind of neat.