Whitley County Ag Museum

Whitley County Ag Museum Our mission is to capture, document and preserve the history of Whitley County's rich rural heritage.

The Whitley County Agricultural Museum and 4-H Learning Center provides a learning opportunity for clubs, families, schools, students, and teachers to understand and learn about Whitley County’s first settlers and our agricultural heritage. You can observe how people in the 1800’s – 1900’s lived, worked, and communicated with each other.

Carrie Studebaker took these pictures Sunday at the tractor rodeo and tractor driving experience. She is letting me shar...
07/22/2026

Carrie Studebaker took these pictures Sunday at the tractor rodeo and tractor driving experience. She is letting me share them here . She did a great job capturing the experience of so many

07/22/2026

Plenty of people came for pecan rolls or a cinnamon roll this morning. 70 rolls were sold in 25-30 minutes. One of the Ag Museum members went and was able to get 25 more and they were gone in 8 minutes!!! Thank you to everyone who stopped by for a roll and coffee. I believe the museum will have them at the Fall Festival in October.

Sunday morning tractor rodeo and tractor driving experience. What a great turn out! The kids really enjoyed driving a tr...
07/21/2026

Sunday morning tractor rodeo and tractor driving experience. What a great turn out! The kids really enjoyed driving a tractor and we had one adult male that had never driven a tractor before that completely enjoyed the experience. The kids wanted to take a turn putting the chain in the wooden box and rolling the barrel while staying in the lane. Much fun was had by all and the museum was really grateful for the turn out

07/19/2026

So cute

07/15/2026

On Tuesday, July 21, stop by the Ag Museum to purchase a pecan roll for $4 or a plain roll for $3 and a free cup of coffee! Selling until the rolls are gone. Stop by get your roll and visit with friends or bring the grandkids by and explain to them the things you used growing up on the farm.

07/15/2026

If weather permits on Sunday, July 19th , from 10:00 am to 1:30 pm there will be a Tractor Rodeo at the track. Anyone 18 or older can test their skill with a tractor. I watched it last year and a few of the guys were very talented. Come on gals show these guys you can do it too!

07/15/2026

Whitley County 4-H fair starts Friday, July 17!!! The Ag Museum will be open Friday through Wednesday from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm. There will be movies showing titled Tractor Wars and Truck Town USA. Stop by to cool off in the ac and watch a spell!!

Does anyone know what this is?? Or what it is used for? It has been given to the museum. I had never see it before and ...
05/26/2026

Does anyone know what this is?? Or what it is used for? It has been given to the museum. I had never see it before and did not know what it was. I do now!! Tell us what you think before we reveal the information about it.

THE ANSWER: floatation device

This is a device used by horses. While we see many pictures of our ancestors working dry fields with the horses pulling the plow and various other implements this device allowed the horse to do their job for the farmer in muddy soil or even a bog. It has a few names a couple of them are wooden mud or swamp shoe. They were applied to the horses feet to keep the horse from sinking while working in cranberry bogs.

The design of the shoe varies depending on the area of the bog. While the design of this shoe is wooden some are made of metal that clamp onto the horseshoe. The wooden shoes were attached to the hoof with straps of leather or metal.

These shoes were also used in onion fields. Whitley County had onion fields at one time and has some ground that could have been farmed that is bog/ swampy or muck ground. There were many onion, potatoe, and spearmint fields around Collins.

We hope you enjoyed learning about this item at the museum. Come and visit to learn more about the Ag Museum exhibits.

Address

680 W Squawbuck Road
Columbia City, IN
46725

Telephone

+12602447615

Website

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