Perryville, Mo. tractor museum raising money for expansion

PERRY COUNTY, Mo. (KFVS) - A tractor museum in southeast Missouri says it needs more room.

Perryville’s American Tractor Museum will hold a fundraiser to help with the expansion.

Lori Heberlie, executive director for the museum, said they opened in 2020 and have no more room for additional tractors.

The American Tractor Museum currently has 65 tractors with more waiting to be added.

“This museum features a lot of orphan tractors, so it’s one of the largest collections that we know of for manufacturers that are no longer in existence,” said Heberlie.

With the Maximizing the Future fundraising event, they are hoping to raise money to expand the building to be able to show off more tractors.

“It will cost us more for the building,” she said. “We’ve already had the land here, but we’d like to expand on our current location.”

Visitor Greg Brewer said this is the first time that he’s been to the museum since it was finished in 2020.

“These are tractors you don’t see everywhere,” he said. “I mean, you never see these tractors, to be honest with you. It’s pretty cool, especially if you’re into farming.”

Herberlie said everyone that walks through the doors are in awe of all of the tractors and history behind the museum.

“This museum tries to capture, not only the history of these machines, but the impact they had on local families,” he said. “So, each machine has not only its history of the machine, but it has stories of people who remember riding these machines and using these machines.”

The Maximizing the Future fundraising event is on July 23 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

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