It’s easy to drive down a highway, step into a skyscraper, or walk along a paved street without thinking about the machines—and people—who built them. But at the National Construction Equipment Museum, just outside Bowling Green, Ohio, those stories aren’t forgotten. They’re preserved, restored, and even put back to work.
Run by the Historical Construction Equipment Association (HCEA), the museum is a living monument to the machines that carved out America’s infrastructure. Founded in 1986, the nonprofit has grown to nearly 4,000 members worldwide. But it’s a core team of about 15 local volunteers who keep the gears turning—literally—restoring equipment and preparing for the annual fall show.
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“I’ve been helping out here going on 40 years now,” said Dave Brainard, a local HCEA member. “I’m a retired equipment operator with 50 years in, and I’ve always been interested in old equipment.”
“I’ve been here just over 30,” added Dave Shively, a farm drainage contractor and HCEA member. “It’s in my blood. My dad was an operator on an old pull grader, and this stuff ties into farming a bit, too. It’s just a very interesting place to come and work.”
The museum’s biggest draw is the International Convention and Old Equipment Exposition, taking place this year from September 18–20. Unlike typical antique equipment shows, this one is fully operational.
“It’s very unique because we are an operating show,” Shively explained. “It’s not just a static show where things sit there and collect dust. We have lots of equipment running, like cranes, shovels, and dozers. We’ll have the rock crusher going, powered by a steam engine, loading with a clamshell, and a belt loader moving material into a truck. There’s a lot of action.”
“We’ll have most of our equipment out back working on a dirt pile,” said Brainard. “We’d like to see anyone interested in old equipment come to our show.”
The event attracts visitors from across the U.S. and abroad, with past guests coming from Sweden, Germany, England, and Australia.
The show is designed for more than just enthusiasts. Children can enjoy a massive sandbox construction site, complete with toy cranes and gravel pits. Vendors sell collectible models, vintage manuals, and hard-to-find parts.
“We’ll have a sand pile with a crane and a gravel screening pit with toys, and kids will just play in that all day,” Shively said.
Collectors are encouraged to display, and even run, their own vintage machines. Shively recalled one memorable moment: “We had a guy bring in a really nice, restored machine one year. He kept it in an enclosed trailer all weekend. But on the last day, he said, ‘I can’t stand to see it just sit here,’ so he got it out and dug in the dirt. He got the bug. He had to see it work.”
Behind the scenes, volunteers meet weekly to repair and restore historic equipment. One current project is a massive 1920s Buckeye trencher.
“It’s been a long-going project, a huge machine, but we’re finally starting to see the end of the restoration,” Brainard said.
“It’s not a wheel machine like most people think of, it’s a chain trencher,” Shively explained. “That thing can dig 12 to 15 feet deep. At the time, that was a humongous piece of equipment. A lot better than any backhoe, crane, shovel, or hand digging.”
Every machine in the collection was donated, with some requiring multiple trucks or local contractor support just to transport them.
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The museum’s collection has outgrown its space, prompting construction of a new 200-by-100-foot steel building to better showcase the machines.
“What we have now is jammed full. You can’t hardly walk around it,” Brainard said. “The new building will have a heated floor, and hopefully we can spread things out so people can actually look at it better, take pictures, and really take it in.”
“We want this to be a state-of-the-art museum,” Shively added. “A place where people can come and really see how things used to be. We want to have more pictures, more signage, maybe even videos of the machines in operation to help people understand what they’re looking at.”
Volunteers hope younger generations will step in to continue the mission. Partnerships with local schools and student groups are a step in that direction, but leaders say more involvement is needed.
“We need younger people to get involved,” Brainard said. “We’ve had a few UNOH students come help out, and they come to the show. That’s been great. But we need more.”
For veterans of the industry, the museum is a trip down memory lane. For newcomers, it’s a chance to experience the roots of modern construction firsthand.
“We love playing in the dirt,” Shively said. “We think once people see this equipment in action, they’ll understand why.”
For more information on the HCEA and their upcoming convention, visit hcea.net.
Originally reported by Brianna Smith in Ohio Country Journal.
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