Right inside the River Center in Davenport, Iowa, at this year’s Gathering of the Green was an eye-catching display of John Deere literature and memorabilia in cases. This was the first place many visitors stopped to “ooh” and “ahh” over Matt Gilsinger’s multigenerational display of his family’s JD dealership tokens.

“We started business in Pulaski, Indiana, October 13, 1899. It was started by my great-grandfather as a general store. They carried everything: clothes, fencing, corn planters and more. They even sold cars, for a while.”

Gilsinger’s is Indiana’s oldest JD dealer. John Shank and Joseph Gilsinger began the business and two years later, in July 1901 they sold 10 Deering binders and seven mowers. In 1902 the company suffered a fire and lost all stock in the Watts building.

By that July, Shank and Gilsinger assembled Deering corn harvesters. A new partner, Frank Miller, joined the business in 1903. In 1912 the company moved buildings again and began to sell hand and horse-drawn equipment, plows, cultivators, buggies and wagons. In 1930 J.P. Gilsinger Co. sold its first John Deere D.

Matt and his family have lovingly gathered these mementos of the history of the business. “A new building was built in Pulaski in 1949 and we were there until 1958 when we moved to Winamac, the county seat,” he said. “That was a big John Deere push – they wanted their dealerships where the community was.”

Matt, who started full-time with the business in 2004, had a book from 1962 with a story about second- and third-generation Deere dealers. “A friend, an auctioneer, found it and said ‘you have to buy this.’ It had a picture of my grandfather, Eugene Paul, and my great-uncles, Max and Basil, and my great-aunt, Marcella.

“Dad started part-time in the business in 1954, then full-time in 1975 after graduating from Notre Dame. We built a new building in Winamac in 1978 and added five other locations: one in Knox in 1990, Plymouth and Leesburg in 2003, then Goshen and Mishawaka in December of 2010.

“There is a lot of stuff here, and 25 percent of it is from the family collection. Dad kept stuff,” Matt said, adding this was not true of other, earlier relatives who only had a few collectibles accumulated from over the years.

“We just started collecting the pocket ledgers in 1994,” he said. “Dad and I started picking things up and we have all but 20 of the 143 editions.”

The lovely old literature and colorful advertising not only is historic, but had so much of the Gilsinger family story documented in ads, ledgers, photos and more. “I take the display to our stores and put them out for display during events,” Matt added.

After they started collecting items in earnest, he said, “The literature just followed. A lady at our church brought in one piece with a mirror. A letter that was written from my Uncle Carl in 1921 was found in an attic in a house nearby.”

People providing those missing pieces have helped round out the family collection. For Matt, the most interesting piece is a handwritten ledger his Aunt Marcella kept.  The ledger shows a JD 420 they sold to a gentleman in 1960; Matt was able to buy this tractor back and restore it.

“We have been in business for 112 years,” Matt pointed out.

The Gilsingers created a video that included very old footage, for their 110th anniversary. The film was running during the Gathering of the Green and helped other John Deere enthusiasts enjoy memories, along with the Gilsinger family.

To obtain learn more about the business, log onto www.gilsingerimplement.com

Readers with questions or comments for Cindy Ladage may write to her in care of this publication.